Carney and Smith threaten west coast with new pipeline

OTTAWA | TRADITIONAL, UNCEDED TERRITORY OF THE ALGONQUIN ANISHNAABEG PEOPLE – Reacting to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier, Danielle Smith’s announcement today about plans to significantly roll back the price on pollution, presumably to encourage more tar sands extraction for export.

The announcement comes as countries like China and India are making unprecedented leaps forward in renewable energy generation, particularly solar power, while their demand for oil and gas is flatlining. By contrast, Canada is moving in the wrong direction, expanding fossil fuel production, including recently announcing support for two new liquified methane gas (LNG) facilities. Canada’s oil and gas industry is the largest and fast-growing source of the country’s climate pollution, currently responsible for 30% of national greenhouse gas emissions.

Liz McDowell, Campaigns Director with Stand.earth:

“Any new bitumen pipeline and tanker megaproject would come at the sacrifice of what Canadians hold dear – clean water, clean air, a healthy environment, and the protection of endangered species. To get it built, the Carney government is trying to bulldoze key longstanding environmental protections, including protections for nature, endangered species, clean water, and marine life. At the same time, he’s rolling back promises to make the biggest polluters in the country pay their fair share.” 

Earlier this week, the Federal government proposed changes to the Impact Assessment Act, the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, and the Species at Risk Act, and the Fisheries Act.

Sven Biggs, Oil and Gas Campaign Director with Stand.earth said:

“For decades First Nations and British Columbians have been clear: we don’t want oil tankers or crude oil pipelines on the north coast. Our voices made sure the Northern Gateway pipeline was rejected by the courts, when hundreds of thousands of Canadians appeared in front of the National Energy Board, marched in the streets, and organized to stop Stephen Harper, the last Prime Minister who thought this was a good idea. This is the wall of opposition Mark Carney will meet if he tries to force this project on people who have repeatedly said no.”

Regarding moving ahead with carbon capture and storage technology (CCUS), Sven Biggs, Oil and Gas Campaign Director with Stand.earth said:

“Carbon capture and storage is nothing more than another subsidy for the fossil fuel industry and an excuse to keep burning oil and gas. The federal government has already spent $9.1 billion on it at the behest of the fossil fuel industry only to show that it’s costly, unproven at scale, and to date has captured roughly 0.5% of national emissions. Either way, carbon capture is not a solution to the majority of fossil fuel emissions, which come from burning oil, gas, and coal by the end user.”

Arin de Hoog, Canadian Communications Coordinator with Stand.earth said:

“The water-torture drip of announcements around the Prime Minister and Albert Premier’s pipeline proposal serves two purposes. One is to ‘flood the zone’ in order to keep environmental advocates and the press chasing the story without the time for a deeper analysis. The second is to normalise the notion of a new pipeline, that no one needs, to potential investors and the general public who are already deeply aware of the catastrophic climatic consequences of extracting more fossil fuels. It’s a communications strategy straight out of the Trump playbook that will never recover from its narrative loss to the rapidly rising story of renewable energy.”

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Media contacts: 

Sven Biggs, Canadian Oil and Gas Programs Director (PT):

+1 778-882-8354 sven@stand.earth

Liz McDowell, Senior Campaigns Director (PT): 

+1 604-219-6337 liz@stand.earth

Arin de Hoog, Communications Coordinator (ET)

+1 613 978 7329 arin.dehoog@stand.earth