There’s been a lot of toxic talk surrounding Energy East, so we thought we’d try to tackle the subject — and why everyone is mad at each other — in brief. Energy East was a proposed and very controversial 4500 km pipeline that would help move Albertan and Saskatchewan oil from the prairies out to New Brunswick. Currently, 3000 kms of the pipeline is already complete and transports oil from Alberta through Ontario. The now-cancelled, proposed pipeline would have been an additional 1500 kms to stretch the existing pipeline to Saint John, NB. It would have transferred 1.1 billion barrels of crude every single day and created 14,000 jobs.
So why was the Energy East pipeline cancelled? The fast answer to this question is going to depend a little on where you live. If you live in Quebec, you’ll hear about environmental concerns, miscommunication with indigenous peoples, and the low cost of oil. If you live in Alberta, it’s Quebec and Justin Trudeau’s fault. The truth, as is typical in these sorts of divides, is somewhere in the middle.
Environmental Concerns.
At Westcal Insulation, we’re pro pipeline. We understand that not building a pipeline doesn’t mean the demand of oil suddenly disappears. Everyone in Eastern Canada is still driving cars and still using oil. We personally prefer pipelines to trains and other transportation methods because there is less danger to human life, but that doesn’t mean pipelines are perfect. The environmental concerns are valid and should be taken seriously.
Indigenous Peoples.
Another important concern that’s often belittled is the impact on Indigenous People’s reserves, sacred sites, and lands in general. It’s easy for us to minimize their concerns, but if the pipeline was going straight through the Calgary downtown and disrupting our lives, Albertans would be protesting in the streets. 90% of the pipeline would have been on land owned by private citizens and indigenous peoples, and their concerns had to be a consideration.
Low Cost of Oil.
When the Energy East plan was originally proposed, the price of oil was over $100 a barrel. At the moment, it’s hovering around half that much. This drop is certainly a contributing factor in TransCanada’s decision to kill the pipeline.
Justin Trudeau absolutely did not help the project to succeed. Quebec in general, and the mayor of Montreal, in particular, did not want the project to succeed. Albertans, correctly, argue that Quebec and Eastern Canada import oil from countries, such as Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, that do not abide by the same environmental regulations that the Canadian government forces Alberta to comply with.
But Canada is also not a developing nation, and perhaps we should be pushing what is possible and holding ourselves to higher environmental standards than less well off nations.
And, while Trudeau and the Liberal government did not help this project, the prime minister is also demonstrably not anti-pipeline. His government has approved two other projects including the Keystone XL. In fact, AltaCorp Capital Inc. analyst Dirk Lever suggested that Energy East was always, “a plan B” for oil producers who would have been reluctant to commit to both Keystone XL and Energy East.
What it comes down to is, while we’re disappointed that Energy East will not be bringing oil to Quebec and the Maritimes, it doesn’t help anyone to simplify the problem. The pipeline was cancelled for numerous factors, and it’s important to remember that Canadians on both sides of the country are disappointed.
Brian Gallant, the Liberal Premier of New Brunswick, lobbied hard for the project as he hoped the new jobs would help his province. Many in New Brunswick are as frustrated as those of us here in Alberta. So, instead of anger, let’s try to move forward with understanding and not allow our disappointment to become the tool of politicians and others who wish to divide western Canadians from our friends and neighbours in the east.
