Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Canada law: Pipeline firms to cover spill costs, effects

Rob Gillies Associated Press

TORONTO – Pipeline companies will be liable for all costs and damages from a spill, regardless of fault or negligence under a new law, the Canadian government announced Wednesday, as it appears set to approve a controversial pipeline.

Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford made the announcement in British Columbia, where there is fierce opposition to two proposed pipelines that would deliver oil from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific coast. Tankers would then take the oil to Asia, mainly energy-hungry China.

Enbridge’s Northern Gateway project would transport 525,000 barrels a day from Alberta to Kitimat, B.C. Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion would almost triple the current capacity of a pipeline to Vancouver’s port to 900,000.

The federal cabinet is widely expected to approve the Northern Gateway project next month. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government has staunchly supported Northern Gateway after the United States delayed a final decision on TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline that would take oil from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

But there is fierce environmental and aboriginal opposition. Opponents fear pipeline leaks and a potential Exxon Valdez-like disaster on the pristine Pacific coast. About 220 large oil tankers a year would visit the Pacific coast town of Kitimat. There is no guarantee Northern Gateway will be built. Court challenges are expected.

New pipelines are important for Canada, which needs infrastructure in place to export its growing oil sands production. The northern Alberta region has the world’s third largest oil reserves, with 170 billion barrels of proven reserves.