National Energy Board approves the one pipeline Alberta opposes

[mentalfloss]

National Energy Board approves the one pipeline that Alberta's government opposes

CALGARY — The National Energy Board has approved a TransCanada Corp. pipeline project that will move natural gas from British Columbia into Alberta, despite the opposition of local energy companies and concerns of the Alberta government.

In a closely watched decision Wednesday, Canada’s pipeline regulator announced it would allow TransCanada to build its $1.4-billion North Montney Mainline pipeline project and, controversially, flow the natural gas it would carry from B.C. into Alberta.

In a surprise move, however, the NEB rejected TransCanada’s request to keep its current approach to tolling gas producers, which was another issue that divided the gas sector during the North Montney Mainline hearing process.

“Such tolls would neither adhere to the principle of cost causation nor foster the goal of economic efficiency,” the NEB said in its decision.

National Energy Board approves the one pipeline that Alberta’s government opposes | Financial Post

 

[Bar Sinister]

Only one thing to do. Oppose the pipeline on environmental grounds.

 

[mentalfloss]

That will teach BC!

This message is approved by Jason Kenney and the UCP.

 

[taxslave]

So where is Horriblle Horgan and Dreamweaver weaver? shouldn't they be directing their thugs to protest this line?

 

[Jinentonix]

Just goes to show you how f*cked up this country is getting. Two Dipper govts engaged in a fossil fuel war with each other. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

 

[Twin_Moose]

MF why didn't you paste the whole article to clarify what is happening

The pipeline company had originally designed the North Montney Mainline to ship natural gas westbound toward LNG export projects on the B.C. coast, but those projects have been delayed or cancelled outright. The delays caused TransCanada to vary its request so it could ship that gas production eastbound — a controversial move, which has turned energy companies against each other.
Gas producers with assets in B.C. have said they need the pipeline to move natural gas to market, especially in the absence of any LNG export projects.

But producers with assets in Alberta have opposed the project, and intervened in the regulatory process, asking the NEB to delay its construction because it would feed into TransCanada’s existing gas network in Alberta and possibly exacerbate a glut in the Alberta Energy Company (AECO) market, further depressing prices.
“I think we were most disappointed with the timing of the North Montney Mainline,” said Peyto Exploration and Development Corp. president and CEO Darren Gee.
“It’s not that we ant to object to building more infrastructure in the Western Basin – the problem is we need egress right now, not connection,” Gee said, adding that the project is “premature” because it connects new supplies to the AECO market at a time when TransCanada is still trying to eliminate bottlenecks from the existing system.
Alberta’s natural gas market has suffered through volatile price swings, which pushed the AECO benchmark into negative territory last year for the first time.
In an ironic twist, the pipeline from B.C. has also attracted the opposition of the Alberta government, which is hard at work trying to win support for Kinder Morgan Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to B.C. However, Alberta’s energy department has said its concerns with the project are unrelated to its dispute with the B.C. government.
The province’s energy ministry intervened in the regulatory process over concerns about AECO pricing — which affects government royalties — at a time when TransCanada has yet to upgrade pinch points within the system and capacity to move gas out of Alberta.

So the main reason that it is being opposed is because of the bottlenecks that exist on the TCPL and flooding it even more, when the flow should be freed up to flow the gas out of Alta. more efficiently before adding more gas to the system. Seems like a reasonable request IMO