Canada's Government Buys Controversial Oil Pipeline, To Ensure It Gets Expanded
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/29/615197549/canadas-government-buys-controversial-oil-pipeline-to-ensure-it-gets-builtMay 29, 2018
Calling a controversial pipeline expansion "a vital project in the national interest," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is buying the Trans Mountain pipeline to ensure that the expansion is built, despite protests from environmentalists and other groups.
The government is taking control of both the 715-mile pipeline and its expansion that is meant to increase capacity to 890,000 barrels a day. To do so, Canada will pay the pipeline's current owner, Kinder Morgan, $4.5 billion in Canadian dollars – about $3.5 billion in U.S. currency.
"Today, we've taken action to create & protect jobs in Alberta and BC, and restart construction on the TMX pipeline expansion, a vital project in the national interest," Trudeau said in a tweet.
The pipeline connects oil sands facilities near Edmonton, Alberta, to tanks in Burnaby, near Vancouver on Canada's west coast. Its expansion is a key part of Canada's effort to boost oil exports to Asian markets — but the plan has been protested by indigenous groups and environmental activists, who warn of the risks of a spill and the hazards of increased petroleum tanker traffic....