Trans Mountain ‘pipeline is going to get built’: Trudeau dismisses B.C.’s bitumen ban
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Great news!! The child labourers in the toxic and dangerous cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo will be glad to know they'll be kept busy for the foreseeable future, if they live that long.
The dirty secret of electric vehicles
VICTORY AT LAST! Supremes deny FN appeal to stop twinning. Just heard this on CTV. Will look for links.
Trans Mountain: Federal court dismisses appeal challenging pipeline expansion approval
www.ctvnews.ca/politics/trans-mountain-federal-court-dismisses-appeal-challenging-pipeline-expansion-approval-1.4796231
Trans Mountain: Federal court dismisses appeal challenging pipeline expansion approval
www.ctvnews.ca/politics/trans-mountain-federal-court-dismisses-appeal-challenging-pipeline-expansion-approval-1.4796231
Victory for Trans Mountain pipeline as appeal court rejects challenges
OTTAWA — A federal court judge has rejected claims by several First Nations that federal officials failed to adequately consult with them on the Trans Mountain pipeline, removing a major barrier hanging over the long-delayed project.
Three Federal Court of Appeal justices ruled unanimously to reject claims by Indigenous communities who sought further investigation into Trans Mountain, saying there was “no basis for interfering” with Ottawa’s re-approval of the pipeline. The judges found that federal consultations with Indigenous communities were “reasonable and meaningful.”
“Contrary to what the applicants assert, this was anything but a rubber-stamping exercise,” Justice Marc Noël wrote in his ruling.
The decision on Tuesday notches a win for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who approved the project for a second time in June 2019 after an earlier federal court decision halted construction on the pipeline. Few obstructions now remain for the expansion project, after a separate legal challenge against TMX by the B.C. NDP government was tossed out in December.
The decision will be met with widespread relief in Western Canada’s oil and gas industry, where resentments over prolonged legal and regulatory delays have been running high. Years-long delays on major pipeline proposals, including TC Energy’s Keystone XL pipeline and Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement, have caused pipeline shortages that have driven down prices for Canadian crude.
Applicants against Trans Mountain included the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Squamish Nation, Coldwater Indian Band and a coalition of small First Nations in the Fraser Valley. The Indigenous applicants provided a spirited rebuke of the pipeline, filing over 60,000 pages of evidence that sought to overturn its approval.
This most recent ruling marks the tail end of what has been a drawn out legal battle.
In August 2018, retired justice Eleanor Dawson overturned Ottawa’s approval of the expansion project, ruling that Crown officials had failed to properly consult with Indigenous communities, and that their discussions lacked “meaningful two-way dialogue.”
The decision also ruled that the national energy regulator had erred in its failure to consider a report on marine impacts in its final recommendation to cabinet.
The decision immediately halted construction, and forced former natural resources minister Amarjeet Sohi to conduct months-long consultations with the 129 First Nations communities that reside along the proposed pipeline route.
Tuesday’s decision was a review of those consultation efforts. Noël and the other two justices categorized shortfalls in previous Crown consultations as “limited flaws,” and said the government’s argument in favour of the re-approval “did not suffer from errors in reasoning or logical deficiencies” of the sort identified in previous court challenges.
It said government officials “looked at the issue of Canada’s compliance with the duty to consult afresh,” in the second round of negotiations.
They also listed a host of public programs introduced by the Liberals, including aspects of its $1.5-billion Ocean Protection Plan, as reasons to reject the Indigenous appeal.
The Trudeau government purchased the pipeline in 2018 for $4.5 billion after its previous owner, Houston-based Kinder Morgan, threatened to pause all major investment in the expansion amid legal challenges in B.C. The expansion would nearly triple capacity of the pipeline, transporting 890,000 barrels of oil per day from northern Alberta to a port near Vancouver. Kinder Morgan first applied to build the conduit in 2012.
Last week the Canada Energy Regulator announced that it would re-commence detailed route hearings for the project. Trans Mountain Corp, the Crown corporation that now operates the pipeline, says 68 per cent of the pipeline’s detailed route has been approved.
Financial Post
business.financialpost.com/commodities/energy/trans-mountain-pipeline-challenge-dismissed-federal-court-of-appeal
Federal Court dismisses First Nations' challenges to Trans Mountain pipeline
In a unanimous, 3-0 decision today, the court dismissed four challenges to that approval launched last summer by First Nations in British Columbia.
OTTAWA — The Federal Court of Appeal says the government’s decision to approve the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion a second time is reasonable and will stand.
In a unanimous, 3-0 decision today, the court dismissed four challenges to that approval launched last summer by First Nations in British Columbia.
The First Nations argued at a hearing in December the government went into consultations with Indigenous communities in the fall of 2018 having predetermined the outcome in favour of building the project.
But the three judges who decided the case say cabinet’s second round of consultations with First Nations affected by the pipeline was “anything but a rubber-stamping exercise.”
The judges say the government made a “genuine effort” to listen to and consider the concerns raised by the First Nations and introduced new conditions to mitigate them.
The expansion project would triple the capacity of the existing pipeline between Edmonton and a shipping terminal in Burnaby, B.C.
It has become a political football for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as he insists Canada can continue to expand oil production and still meet its commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Trudeau’s government stepped up to buy the existing pipeline in 2018 after political opposition to the project from the B.C. government caused Kinder Morgan Canada to pull out from building the expansion.
The government intends to finish the expansion and then sell both the existing pipeline and the expansion back to the private sector.
It has been in talks with some Indigenous communities about the sale, but Finance Minister Bill Morneau has said the project won’t be sold until all the risks to proceeding are eliminated. Those risks included this court case.
In a unanimous, 3-0 decision today, the court dismissed four challenges to that approval launched last summer by First Nations in British Columbia.
The First Nations argued at a hearing in December the government went into consultations with Indigenous communities in the fall of 2018 having predetermined the outcome in favour of building the project.
But the three judges who decided the case say cabinet’s second round of consultations with First Nations affected by the pipeline was “anything but a rubber-stamping exercise.”
The judges say the government made a “genuine effort” to listen to and consider the concerns raised by the First Nations and introduced new conditions to mitigate them.
The expansion project would triple the capacity of the existing pipeline between Edmonton and a shipping terminal in Burnaby, B.C.
It has become a political football for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as he insists Canada can continue to expand oil production and still meet its commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Trudeau’s government stepped up to buy the existing pipeline in 2018 after political opposition to the project from the B.C. government caused Kinder Morgan Canada to pull out from building the expansion.
The government intends to finish the expansion and then sell both the existing pipeline and the expansion back to the private sector.
It has been in talks with some Indigenous communities about the sale, but Finance Minister Bill Morneau has said the project won’t be sold until all the risks to proceeding are eliminated. Those risks included this court case.
calgaryherald.com/business/energy/alert-federal-court-of-appeal-dismisses-challenge-to-trans-mountain-pipeline
If trudOWE is so worried about his beloved emissions targets the simple solution to the problem of inborn stupidity is to claim that all emissions related to exported oil belong with the end user, not the producer.
"the Crown corporation that now operates the pipeline, says 68 per cent of the pipeline’s detailed route has been approved"
Guess that parade day will be moved up on the calendar
Guess that parade day will be moved up on the calendar
the funny part is trudeau is the one who had to sort through the mess Harper made of this project and get it done.
