Carney fast-tracks West Coast oil pipeline as project of national interest

Prime Minister Mark Carney designated the West Coast oil pipeline a project of national interest on Thursday, a move that sidesteps environmental safeguards in place for decades.

The pipeline, dubbed Pacific Link, would send 1 million barrels of oil per day from Alberta's oil sands to a new terminal at Roberts Bank, south of Vancouver in the Fraser River delta. Oil would be loaded onto super-sized tankers—vessels the length of three football fields—unprecedented in the Salish Sea.

Carney announced the designation in Fort McMurray alongside Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. The Prime Minister said the project will create 140,000 jobs across Canada and generate more than $20 billion in GDP annually. Ottawa will invest $10 billion to expand Roberts Bank terminal; the full project is estimated to cost up to $43.7 billion and will largely be funded by taxpayers.

The Fraser River delta is a globally important ecosystem supporting one of the world's largest salmon runs and home to an endangered southern resident killer whale population. The area also serves as a critical node on the Pacific Flyway for migrating birds and hosts the largest congregation of overwintering waterfowl and shorebirds in Canada.

Carney said the project will "strengthen protections for the marine life that call these waters home, including a series of measures to protect the habitat of killer whales during construction." However, an environmental assessment of a separate Roberts Bank container port expansion concluded severe and permanent adverse effects on killer whales, Fraser River chinook salmon, and migratory birds including western sandpipers—which depend on intertidal biofilm to fuel their migration to Alaska and Siberia.

Georgia Lloyd-Smith, staff lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law, called the decision "financially and legally risky." Katisha Paul, women's representative for the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, told The Tyee the designation is "inappropriate for Carney to talk about addressing environmental impacts when they aren't fully known, in the absence of a thorough environmental assessment."

Currently about 90 per cent of Alberta's oil is purchased by the United States. Roberts Bank Terminal 2 is scheduled to begin construction in 2028.