“We are committed to supporting our energy sector and the hard-working Canadians it employs. Our government has always supported the Keystone XL project, and we are disappointed by this decision,” Vanessa Adams, spokeswoman for Canadian Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi, said in a statement, reports The Hill.
Adams added that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government “is taking an approach to resource development that will grow our economy and protect the environment. These priorities go hand-in-hand.”
Alberta Energy Minister Marg McCuaig-Boyd also echoed those feelings. “This ruling by a foreign court underscores once again the urgent need for Canada to build pipelines within our own borders, including the Trans Mountain expansion,” she said.
Since the pipeline was first proposed by TransMountain in 2008, support for the pipeline has been strong in Canada. Not only would hundreds of jobs be created, but the pipeline is essential to Alberta’s petroleum industry as a way to export its oil and natural gas to new global markets, says an industry association, according to
Opponents of Trudeau’s ruling Liberal Party are also angry, blaming the prime minister and his government for the problem. “This is a wake-up call for Justin Trudeau. We can’t rely on foreign governments to help us get full value for our resources,” Andrew Scheer, head of the Conservative Party and leader of the official opposition in Parliament, said on Twitter.
Alberta still pushing for Keystone XL pipeline
Climate change and the lack of data taking this into account when approving the construction of the KXL pipeline was central to the court’s ruling.
“The department’s 2017 conclusory analysis that climate-related impacts from Keystone subsequently would prove inconsequential and its corresponding reliance on this conclusion as a centerpiece of its policy change required the department to provide a ‘reasoned explanation,’ Morris said, citing court precedent on similar policy changes. “The department instead simply discarded prior factual findings related to climate change to support its course reversal.”
Trump called the ruling “a political decision,” and “a disgrace.” And while the decision of the court was applauded by environmentalists and indigenous groups on both sides of the border, Alberta says it’s still pushing for the pipeline.
At a Friday news conference, McCuaig-Boyd, called the decision by Judge Morris “frustrating,” but insisted it wasn’t enough to stop the province’s backing of the project.
“We’re going to continue to keep going, we knew there’d be setbacks in this project and we’ve been addressing them as they come,” she said. McCuaig-Boyd estimates that Canada is missing out on $80 million a day due to Alberta oil producers being forced to sell at discount prices.
