Northern mayors see the local economic spinoffs<\/a> of a proposed 3,300-kilometre-long pipeline to move Alberta crude oil to refineries in Sarnia, environmental advocacy group Northwatch sees \u201call risk and no rewards\u201d based on the uncertainties surrounding such a massive infrastructure project.<\/p>\nAlberta Premier Danielle Smith and Ontario Premier Doug Ford made the announcement July 6 on the Northern Shield Energy Corridor, a west-to-east pipeline corridor, and released a simplified map of the preferred route\u00a0which appears to parallel existing highway and natural gas pipeline corridors across Northern Ontario.<\/p>\n
In a news release, Brennain Lloyd, project coordinator for Northwatch, said such a project would have \u201chuge impacts\u201d on the environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst there\u2019s the level of disturbance \u2013 to land, water bodies, ecosystems, other land users \u2013 along the route if a new pipeline was to be constructed,\u201d said Lloyd<\/p>\n
\u201cSecond, a rupture or failure to the pipeline could result in a catastrophic release of crude oil, which would have serious local and potentially downstream impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lloyd added Canadians should be concerned about an infrastructure project that\u2019s designed around\u00a0extracting hydrocarbons \u2013 the molecular building blocks of fossil fuels \u2013 and shipping them to market.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in climate crisis, and all efforts should be to phase out oil and gas, not promote and expand it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group said the routing of the project is reminiscent of TC Energy\u2019s proposed Energy East pipeline, a 4,500-kilometre project, designed to carry 1.1 billion barrels of crude from Western Canada refineries to export terminals on the East Coast. Plunging crude oil prices, fierce opposition, and a tough federal environmental regulatory regime forced TC Energy to terminate the project in 2017.<\/p>\n
The pipeline is being promoted by the provincial governments as a nation-building and national security infrastructure that could conceivably move 500,000 barrel of oil a day with a possibly expansion to up to 800,00 barrels.<\/p>\n
There is no approved start of construction date nor estimated price tag for the pipeline.<\/p>\n
Under the Infrastructure Ontario flag, a feasibility study is due out by year\u2019s end with input from a consortium of accountants, project cost estimators, engineers, builders and consultants in GHD Limited, Ernst & Young LLP (EY Canada), Mokwateh, AtkinsR\u00e9alis Group Inc., Wood PLC, and Turner & Townsend.<\/p>\n
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