Tell Trudeau to choose: pipelines or the planet?
Prime Minister Trudeau keeps telling us that building the Trans Mountain pipeline goes hand-in-hand with tackling the climate crisis. We know this isn’t true.
Now, two government agencies have said the exact same thing. The Canada Energy Regulator and the Parliamentary Budget Officer have made it clear that Trudeau has to choose between building Trans Mountain and confronting the climate emergency. It’s past time that Trudeau was honest: does he want to build a pipeline or tackle the climate crisis? He simply can’t do both.
Tell Prime Minister Trudeau to choose people and the planet over pipelines.
On Tuesday December 8th, Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer published an update on the financial and economic status of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. The new report makes it clear that strong climate policies will make TMX unprofitable. As the PBO put it, “if policy action on climate change continues to become more stringent, it is possible for the Trans Mountain assets to have a negative net present value.” It’s clearer than ever: Trudeau can either keep funding TMX or tackle the climate crisis. He simply can’t do both.
The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is a new fossil fuel pipeline that would carry tar sands from Alberta to just outside of Vancouver, BC. Originally owned by Texas oil giant Kinder Morgan, the Government of Canada bailed the project out in 2018 when Kinder Morgan threatened to walk away, and we bought it for $5.4 billion.
Then, in early 2020, the Government released updated costs for the project. Now at nearly $13 billion and climbing, public support for the pipeline dropped as the public was told that we would need to foot this growing bill. This was all before COVID-19 hit, which no doubt has driven the cost of the project even higher.
Before Justin Trudeau bought the Trans Mountain pipeline, the project was such a bad bet that Texas oil giant Kinder Morgan walked away from the project. Here’s why: