Alberta’s Industrial Heartland met the federal government’s conditional approval of the contentious Northern Gateway Pipeline with applause.
Amidst reaction from First Nations and environmental groups, the controversial $6.5-billion Northern Gateway Pipeline received the go-ahead earlier this month, subject to 209 conditions that the National Energy Board had set forth for Enbridge.
If the Calgary-based energy conglomerate is able to reach all stipulations set out by the energy board, more than 1,170 kilometres of twin pipelines will carry 525,000 barrels of diluted bitumen, or heavy crude oil, per day from the province’s industrial heartland in northeast Strathcona County to the deep-water port of Kitimat, British Columbia, at the head of the Douglas Channel.
Neil Shelly, executive director of Alberta’s Industrial Heartland Association (AIHA), said oilsands production will see an exponential rise to more than four million barrels per day, to potentially five or six million within the next decade or shortly thereafter.
Today, oilsands production sits at nearly two million barrels per day.
“A large portion of that is going to have to be exported in a raw form and we’re going to have to need export pipelines like the Keystone XL, Energy East and the Northern Gateway pipeline to support that type of development,” Shelly explained.
The presence of Enbridge’s twin-pipeline will also help establish the Industrial Heartland as the centralized hub for bitumen logistics within Alberta, he said, noting the majority of oil production is now entering into the area through a variety of pipelines.
“People prefer our region to set up their operations because once the oil comes into this area, they have multiple options on where they can market their oil,” Shelly added.
With the connections made through the Keystone XL pipeline, for instance, companies have access into American markets. Through Energy East, there is the potential to access the eastern Canadian markets and a growing number of bitumen by rail facilities like the Canexus project.
With the Northern Gateway pipeline, Canadian crude will gain access into new markets within the Pacific Rim.
“They’ve established (the Northern Gateway pipeline) to set up both raw product and synthetic crude,” Shelly said. “That can be important because if we’re creating new types of crude, either medium or light crudes for the upgrading process, then getting access to the growing Asian markets will be important.”
By processing that crude oil and ensuring a healthy oilsands industry, AIHA is hoping the benefit spinoff will come in the form of supplies service and petrochemical developments.
Strathcona County will provide mile zero of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, allowing for the opportunity for tank and pump facilities to be constructed, along with ongoing operational maintenance of the aforementioned facilities that will continue to apply a long-term tax base and employment base for the county.
“In addition to that, there will be several companies that will be looking to utilize that pipeline, and so the best place to locate will be in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland,” said Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville MLA Jacquie Fenske.
When asked whether the economic reward was worth the environmental risk should a spill occur, Fenske said she believes Enbridge will do everything in its power to ensure it will be able to get its product to market safely.
In July 2010, however, a 40-foot pipeline operated by Enbridge burst, spilling approximately 843,000 gallons of diluted bitumen into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River, a clean up effort that continues to this day, having racked up more than $765 million in clean up costs as of July 2012, according to the website Inside Climate News.
A 36-page report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency details Enbridge’s suggestion that the best course of action for dealing with the remaining spill was to allow it to biodegrade, this despite an estimated 20 per cent of dilbit having mixed with sediment to sink to the bottom of the river.
“There’s always a risk, whether it’s by pipeline or by rail, and oil and gas is moving off the coast as we speak today,” Fenske said.
“I guess we’ve already crossed that bridge at one point in time, but I know that several of the conditions will have to do with the environmental integrity of this project and so they’re still yet to be met.”
Pipeline approval met with applause from Heartland | Sherwood Park News
Amidst reaction from First Nations and environmental groups, the controversial $6.5-billion Northern Gateway Pipeline received the go-ahead earlier this month, subject to 209 conditions that the National Energy Board had set forth for Enbridge.
If the Calgary-based energy conglomerate is able to reach all stipulations set out by the energy board, more than 1,170 kilometres of twin pipelines will carry 525,000 barrels of diluted bitumen, or heavy crude oil, per day from the province’s industrial heartland in northeast Strathcona County to the deep-water port of Kitimat, British Columbia, at the head of the Douglas Channel.
Neil Shelly, executive director of Alberta’s Industrial Heartland Association (AIHA), said oilsands production will see an exponential rise to more than four million barrels per day, to potentially five or six million within the next decade or shortly thereafter.
Today, oilsands production sits at nearly two million barrels per day.
“A large portion of that is going to have to be exported in a raw form and we’re going to have to need export pipelines like the Keystone XL, Energy East and the Northern Gateway pipeline to support that type of development,” Shelly explained.
The presence of Enbridge’s twin-pipeline will also help establish the Industrial Heartland as the centralized hub for bitumen logistics within Alberta, he said, noting the majority of oil production is now entering into the area through a variety of pipelines.
“People prefer our region to set up their operations because once the oil comes into this area, they have multiple options on where they can market their oil,” Shelly added.
With the connections made through the Keystone XL pipeline, for instance, companies have access into American markets. Through Energy East, there is the potential to access the eastern Canadian markets and a growing number of bitumen by rail facilities like the Canexus project.
With the Northern Gateway pipeline, Canadian crude will gain access into new markets within the Pacific Rim.
“They’ve established (the Northern Gateway pipeline) to set up both raw product and synthetic crude,” Shelly said. “That can be important because if we’re creating new types of crude, either medium or light crudes for the upgrading process, then getting access to the growing Asian markets will be important.”
By processing that crude oil and ensuring a healthy oilsands industry, AIHA is hoping the benefit spinoff will come in the form of supplies service and petrochemical developments.
Strathcona County will provide mile zero of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, allowing for the opportunity for tank and pump facilities to be constructed, along with ongoing operational maintenance of the aforementioned facilities that will continue to apply a long-term tax base and employment base for the county.
“In addition to that, there will be several companies that will be looking to utilize that pipeline, and so the best place to locate will be in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland,” said Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville MLA Jacquie Fenske.
When asked whether the economic reward was worth the environmental risk should a spill occur, Fenske said she believes Enbridge will do everything in its power to ensure it will be able to get its product to market safely.
In July 2010, however, a 40-foot pipeline operated by Enbridge burst, spilling approximately 843,000 gallons of diluted bitumen into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River, a clean up effort that continues to this day, having racked up more than $765 million in clean up costs as of July 2012, according to the website Inside Climate News.
A 36-page report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency details Enbridge’s suggestion that the best course of action for dealing with the remaining spill was to allow it to biodegrade, this despite an estimated 20 per cent of dilbit having mixed with sediment to sink to the bottom of the river.
“There’s always a risk, whether it’s by pipeline or by rail, and oil and gas is moving off the coast as we speak today,” Fenske said.
“I guess we’ve already crossed that bridge at one point in time, but I know that several of the conditions will have to do with the environmental integrity of this project and so they’re still yet to be met.”
Pipeline approval met with applause from Heartland | Sherwood Park News
