{"id":864675,"date":"2026-09-29T12:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T12:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/864675\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T12:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T12:04:12","slug":"pump-the-brakes-on-the-west-coast-oil-pipeline-washington-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/864675\/","title":{"rendered":"Pump the Brakes on the West Coast Oil Pipeline, Washington Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

The state of Washington is urging the Mark Carney government not to fast-track the new West Coast oil pipeline, saying shared waters are \u201ctoo valuable\u201d to expedite a project that could lead to a catastrophic oil spill and harm ecosystems and the maritime economy.<\/p>\n

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In a Sept. 18 letter to the government, Casey Sixkiller, director of the state\u2019s Department of Ecology, wrote that the proposed pipeline<\/a> would double the volume of crude oil exported through the Salish Sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only would this increase the risk of an oil spill exponentially, but the spill response resources available on both sides of the border are not sized for the risks\u201d posed by larger oil tankers travelling more frequently, Sixkiller wrote in the letter to Dominic LeBlanc, minister for Canada-U.S. trade, intergovernmental affairs, internal trade and One Canadian Economy. <\/p>\n

The Tyee received a copy of the letter, which is not public, from a source who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to share it. <\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

The Tyee sent requests for comment to LeBlanc, Canada\u2019s Privy Council Office and Washington\u2019s Department of Ecology but did not hear back by press time. If and when we receive comment, we will update this story. <\/p>\n

The Privy Council, headed by LeBlanc, is the secretariat for Carney and his cabinet.<\/p>\n

Ottawa is expected to decide this week<\/a> if the new pipeline will be designated a project of national interest, with streamlined approvals overseen by Canada\u2019s Major Projects Office and an accelerated timeline. The Carney government has already removed pipelines<\/a> from environmental impact assessments under Canada\u2019s Impact Assessment Act.<\/p>\n

Sixkiller, whose department is the lead agency in Washington state for oil spill prevention and response, wrote that an oil spill from a very large crude carrier<\/a> could be up to eight times larger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska and impose \u201ccatastrophic environmental and economic consequences for our state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just one major oil spill would jeopardize livelihoods on both sides of the border, \u201cpose irreversible harm to the ecosystems we have worked hard to protect\u201d and threaten tribal treaty-protected resources in the United States, he told LeBlanc.<\/p>\n

The proposed pipeline would move one million barrels of crude oil a day from Roberts Bank, close to the Washington border, and allow a very large crude carrier to load every two days, Sixkiller wrote, noting tankers of this size are \u201cunprecedented in the Salish Sea.\u201d <\/p>\n

The vessels would cross through Washington waters in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Haro Strait and Boundary Pass, and along a shared border that is \u201chome to some of the most unique temperate rainforests and island ecosystems on the planet,\u201d Sixkiller wrote. <\/p>\n

The area is one of the narrowest and most challenging sections of the Salish Sea to navigate, Sixkiller wrote, and the effects of an oil spill would be exacerbated by strong currents. <\/p>\n

He told LeBlanc that the state of Washington is also concerned that a terminal capable of loading very large crude carriers could encourage ship-to-ship transfers from smaller tankers onto the carriers, \u201cwhich would introduce an additional spill pathway.\u201d <\/p>\n

Additional time is required to understand the oil risks of the project and to plan spill risk reduction and preparedness measures if it is approved, Sixkiller wrote. <\/p>\n

The new West Coast oil pipeline was announced<\/a> in early July by Prime Minister Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who said the project would help Canada become an energy superpower.<\/p>\n

Carney referred the pipeline to Canada\u2019s Major Projects Office, which began the process to list it as a project of national interest. Such a designation means the project would undergo a fast-tracked environmental review in less than a year. <\/p>\n

Sixkiller wrote that his department is especially concerned about endangered southern resident killer whales<\/a>, which live in U.S. and Canadian waters.<\/p>\n

Vessel noise that interferes with the whales\u2019 echolocation and foraging, along with the \u201cever-present risk of a strike or a spill,\u201d are among the most significant threats to their survival, he noted. <\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

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Scientists Warn Carney\u2019s Changes Will Bring \u2018Wilful Extinction\u2019<\/p>\n

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Increasing large-vessel traffic through the whales\u2019 core critical habitat in Haro Strait and Boundary Pass, at a time when governments on both sides of the border are investing heavily in their recovery, \u201crisks undoing years of binational conservation work,\u201d Sixkiller wrote. <\/p>\n

He also told LeBlanc that multiple tribes in the United States rely heavily on cultural, subsistence and commercial resources provided by the Salish Sea. <\/p>\n

Washington tribes, including the Tulalip Tribes, hold treaty-protected fishing areas stretching from Neah Bay to Point Roberts, and the state shares their concern that increased vessel traffic and spill risk could affect access to those areas and resources, he wrote, adding that \u201cthe impact of an oil spill knows no boundaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tyee sent a request for comment to the Tulalip Tribes but did not hear back by press time.<\/p>\n

In Washington alone, recreation and tourism tied to Puget Sound generates about US$5 billion in gross domestic product annually, while the marine industry \u2014 including fishing fleets, ports and seafood processors \u2014 generates about US$46 billion a year. The shellfish industry contributes approximately US$180 million annually and supports thousands of direct and indirect jobs, the letter noted. \"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The state of Washington is urging the Mark Carney government not to fast-track the new West Coast oil…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":864676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[364891,113913,72804,2351,192,364892,364893,127308,79,364897,10171,187155,364894,364895,364896],"class_list":["post-864675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-casey-sixkiller","tag-danielle-smith","tag-dominic-leblanc","tag-ecology","tag-environment","tag-exxon-valdez-oil-spill","tag-major-projects-office","tag-salish-sea","tag-science","tag-southern-resident-killer-whales","tag-sustainability","tag-tulalip-tribes","tag-very-large-crude-carriers","tag-washington-state-department-of-ecology","tag-west-coast-oil-pipeline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}