- Alberta introduces law allowing it to cut exports to B.C.
- Premier Notley confident province won’t need to use new power
Canada’s inter-provincial fight over Kinder Morgan Inc.’s Trans Mountain pipeline escalated as oil-producing Alberta threatened to cut off fuel shipments to neighboring British Columbia.
Alberta on Monday introduced legislation allowing it to halt exports of oil and gas to B.C., ramping up pressure on the coastal province to drop its opposition to the pipeline expansion. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley made clear she doesn’t expect to have to use the new powers, but wants to make sure the province has every available tool in its fight to ensure the Trans Mountain expansion gets built.
The legislation comes a day after she and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau failed to dissuade B.C. John Horgan from his battle against the C$7.4 billion ($5.9 billion) project.
“Investor confidence, not only in the energy sector, but frankly across our economy, is at stake,” Notley told reporters in Edmonton, Alberta, on Monday. “We are very committed to putting pressure on B.C. to come around and focus on what this pipeline actually means.”
A halt to energy shipments would have ripple effects across both provinces. Drivers could face gasoline shortages and soaring prices in B.C., while Canada’s second-busiest airport in Vancouver would face higher jet fuel costs. Alberta’s energy producers would also suffer, losing a key market for their crude and refined products.
“The economies of B.C. and Alberta are arguably the most interdependent of any two provinces in Canada,” said Ken Peacock, the chief economist at the Business Council of British Columbia, in a report last year.
Kinder Morgan halted work on the project a week ago and set a May 31 deadline for a resolution to B.C.’s opposition, which includes a court challenge and regulatory hurdles that the province has erected. The expansion’s cancellation would be a major blow to Alberta’s oil industry, which has suffered from lower relative prices for its crude, brought on by a lack of adequate pipeline space. The pipeline has already been approved by the federal government. Horgan is seeking ways to block it, concerned about oil spills along the Pacific Coast.
The existing Trans Mountain system is a major conduit…
