Letter: No business case in KM pipeline
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Re: "Trudeau’s in trouble in battle over pipeline."
The trouble over the Kinder Morgan pipeline is that some people refuse to face reality.
Three weeks ago, all the auditor generals in Canada told us we were not going to meet our climate targets.
Regarding the social licence to build the Kinder Morgan pipeline as mentioned in Andrew McDougall’s opinion piece, it is a wonder to me that some people think there can be a social licence for any new fossil fuel infrastructure in Canada when our climate targets are not going to be met.
And seriously, there is no business case in the Kinder Morgan pipeline. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port and very large crude carriers are game-changers. There is a race to bring fossil fuels to oil refineries before the world switches to low-carbon energy and Canada has just lost that race.
As well, a January 2018 study by the Parkland Institute estimates that Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL), Suncor Energy, Cenovus Energy, Imperial Oil and Husky Energy in Alberta are sitting on an almost two-trillion dollars of liability. “Alberta’s oil sands industry is a carbon bubble—a petroleum-oriented economy that has a high risk of instability, crisis, and even collapse,” the report states.
And now Premier Notley and Prime Minister Trudeau are indicating they are going to financially support the pipeline? So much for the Liberal Party’s 2015 election promise to end fossil-fuel subsidies.
What possibly could be happening that is causing such foolish decision-making? Honestly, do Canadians really want to subsidize a Texan pipeline? Fossil-fuel subsidies are artificially incentivizing companies to sink costs into infrastructure with dubious prospects. The costs of orphaned wells, tailing ponds, climate disruptions, and other externalities will be borne by future taxpayers long after fossil fuels have ceased to generate wealth. Climate change is also a game-changer.
For now, keep the bitumen moving to port by trains. If bitumen is solid, it is not flammable nor explosive and it cannot spill. The only thing that makes it dangerous is when it is mixed with a dilatant to flow through pipelines.
There is a sustainable way forward for our energy industry. A new study by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network shows that rather than building more pipelines, Canada should be building long-distance transmission lines to carry our zero-carbon electricity to U.S. markets.
Now is the time for Canada face reality, co-operate, and not enable Texas oilmen in their fossil-fuel recklessness.
Cathy Orlando
International Outreach Manager
Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada
Sudbury