Premier Clark says three of five Trans Mountain conditions met
VANCOUVER, Nov 30 (Reuters) – The Canadian government is close to meeting conditions British Columbia has laid out for provincial support of Kinder Morgan Inc’s proposal to expand its Trans Mountain pipeline, the province’s premier Christy Clark said on Wednesday.
Clark said Ottawa had met three of five conditions laid out by the Western Canadian province for approval of the pipeline. The two that had not yet been fully met were related to a marine response plan to oil spills and the province getting a “fair share” of jobs and economic benefits of the pipeline, she said.
The Canadian government on Tuesday said it had approved Kinder Morgan’s proposal to more than double the capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which runs from Canada’s oil sands in the province of Alberta through British Columbia to a marine terminal on the Pacific Coast.
“The federal government … has come very, very close to making sure that they meet the five conditions that we set out over four years ago,” Clark told reporters in Vancouver.
Conditions that have been met include a land spill prevention plan and aboriginal participation in the project process.
Asked if the two outstanding conditions could be met before May, when British Columbians go to the polls in a provincial election, Clark said it would likely be “much sooner” than that.
Canada’s energy sector, hit hard by a two-year slump in oil prices, wants more pipelines to help ease bottlenecks in moving crude out of Alberta. But environmentalists, communities along the pipeline’s path and aboriginal groups have promised fierce resistance.
(Reporting by Nicole Mordant in Vancouver; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and James Dalgleish)