Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his oil sands decisions are compatible with Canada's pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Canadian government announced long-awaited decisions on three major oil sands pipelines in a single sweep on Tuesday: Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain expansion and Enbridge's Line 3 were approved, while Enbridge's Northern Gateway was rejected.
The net result means an additional 960,000 barrels per day of the abundant but carbon-heavy oil could be transported out of landlocked Alberta to more lucrative global markets in the coming decade. That coincides with the same timeline under which Canada, along with most other developed countries, are supposed to peak and then reduce greenhouse gas emissions under their pledges to the Paris climate agreement.
According to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, there's no conflict between future growth in the oil sands and tackling climate change. Speaking at a press conference in Ottawa, he paradoxically described the two pipeline approvals as a way to both boost Canada's production of oil sands and transition the country "off of a fossil fuel intensive economy."
"We are able to approve pipeline projects," Trudeau said, "because we have put in significant measures in place, including a price on carbon pollution and a world-class ocean protection plan; because we are phasing out coal plants; because we are demonstrating genuine climate leadership."
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Environmental groups and members of Canada's indigenous First Nations, who have aggressively fought these projects for years, expressed disappointment and anger.
"I have to say that I am not totally surprised by the permit decision today but I am disappointed," Charlene Aleck, the spokeswoman for the Tsleil-Waututh Nation group opposing the Trans Mountain pipeline, said in a statement. "There is a terrible history of the mistreatment of First Nations people in Canada. It saddens me because we hoped things might be different with Trudeau but today's decision is a big step backwards."
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"This is about our survival and the protection of our home, this inlet and the planet," said Aleck. "They are making a big mistake. We will not allow this pipeline to be built."
Pipeline opponents took issue with the Trudeau administration's climate accounting, which assumes that if the pipelines were denied the tar sands would simply find another route to market such as by rail.
"We looked into the math and unequivocally there is no way that these pipelines, which would facilitate extracting and exporting more than 1 million barrels per day of new tar sands production, fits within Canada's climate plan," Adam Scott, senior campaigner at the research and advocacy group Oil Change International, told InsideClimate News in an email.
Under the global climate treaty, Canada has vowed to cut its emissions 30 percent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. At the latest round of climate talks in Morocco, Canada was among the nations to share its mid-century climate strategy, to cut emissions 80 percent by 2050 compared to 2005 levels.
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Calculations by the Canadian government show the carbon dioxide (CO2) reductions from an upcoming carbon tax will be nearly wiped out by the additional emissions from the Trans Mountain pipeline.
Enbridge's Line 3 involves replacing and expanding an existing pipeline that runs 1,031 miles from Hardisty, Alberta to Superior, Wisc. The nearly $5.6 billion project would carry up to 760,000 barrels of oil a day.
