- With B.C.’s rejection of Kinder Morgan's (KMI -4.3%) Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, Canada’s diversification strategy is unraveling, according to Financial Post's Claudia Cattaneo.
- Of the four major export pipeline projects proposed to open new markets for Canadian oil production, Cattaneo says the Trans Mountain project should have been the easiest to achieve because it expands a pipeline that has been safely transporting oil from Alberta to the B.C. coast for 60 years.
- The rejection came the B.C. government said KMI had failed to fulfill the five conditions for heavy oil pipelines, announced in 2012, including “world-leading” marine oil spill response, prevention and recovery; “world-leading” practices for land oil spill prevention, response and recovery systems; and that B.C. receives its “fair share” of the fiscal and economic benefits.
- B.C. "pulled the same stunt" in opposing Enbridge's (ENB -1.1%) Northern Gateway project, Cattaneo writes, saying the moves raise questions about whether the province's conditions are actually attainable, or why Canada has a federal process to approve cross-border pipelines when B.C. effectively seems to have the final say.