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Opposition to TMX project grows
Critics doubt finished expansion could attract buyer, leaving taxpayers to carry costs, with no certainty of crude bitumen buyers Gary Park for Petroleum News
The tide keeps turning across Canada against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, TMX, prompting opposition political parties and environmentalists to seize the chance and urge the federal government to halt the project.
A Nanos poll of 1,003 Canadians extensively probed the mood on TMX since the government paid C$4.5 billion to acquire the existing 390,000 barrels per day system to an export terminal in Vancouver, then updated the estimated cost of adding 500,000 bpd by twinning the pipeline.
The latest calculation puts a price tag of C$12.6 billion on completing the project, up C$5.2 billion on the initial estimate.
Alexandra Woodsworth, a campaigner for the British Columbia-based Dogwood Initiative, said that “if there is no profit to be made in the future, if we are going to have trouble finding buyers (in Asia), we still have the opportunity to save these billions and invest in renewable energies. ...”
Since the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to the rescue of TMX in 2018 by paying C$4.5 billion for the existing 65-year-old line and the investment in the unfinished twinning plan, it has spent C$2.5 billion to manage the effects of delays in TMX, while saddling itself with the expected C$8.4 billion to complete the expansion and C$1.7 billion in financing charges.
Poll on project In answer to several questions, the Nanos poll showed that 16% of respondents agreed the government should spend whatever it costs to complete TMX; 43% said the venture should cost Canadian taxpayers nothing; 21% said taxpayers should fund the currently expected completion costs; 17% said the twinning should be cancelled; and 40% favored selling the pipeline to the highest bidder.
Forty-seven percent said Canada and the world need resource projects such as TMX to create jobs compared with 43% who said such projects should be halted because of their impact on climate change, while 10% were unsure.
Patrick Bonin of Greenpeace said it is “very clear that (TMX) will have no buyer,” insisting that if the government “insists on moving forward” it should place all of the details on the table, leaving Canadians in no doubt about where the money will come from.
The opposition New Democratic Party’s Bloc Quebecois and Green Party also urged Trudeau to stop work on TMX, agreeing with those who are alarmed by the soaring costs.
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