New rules for the National Energy Board announced this week for the review of the Kinder Morgan pipeline were not a surprise.
Predictably, few were 100 per cent on board with the changes announced. Those in the oil patch voiced their displeasure with changing goalposts. Those opposed to the project decried it as not doing enough to fix a fatally flawed process.
That the Trudeau government would bring in changes to the oft-criticized NEB process was a given. The project was a flashpoint during the federal election. Letting the review continue on a business-as-usual basis is clearly not an option, especially for a government elected on the strength of voters’ desire to reject the previous Conservative government and the policies it espoused.
The problem for Trudeau’s Liberals is they still haven’t figured out what to do about it. For a national government the pipeline is a problem. It pits potential economic benefits for one region of the country, Alberta, with potential risk in another, B.C.
The new conditions – that the pipeline review consider upstream climate change impacts, and that First Nations be properly consulted – are consistent with what Trudeau said were priorities during the campaign. Involving First Nations is also a no-brainer, since it’s unlikely any pipeline project will receive blessing from the courts to go ahead without that. Obtaining wider “social licence” could be even more problematic.
This week’s decision essentially amounts to the government buying time to think through its decision. Where that leads is still an open question.
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