ENERGY EAST: NEB may assess carbon pollution

ENERGY EAST: NEB may assess carbon pollution

Postby Oscar » Fri May 19, 2017 9:15 pm

NEB review panel may assess Energy East’s carbon pollution (Numerous LINKS in Original)

[ http://environmentaldefence.ca/2017/05/ ... pollution/ ]

May 19 2017 Patrick DeRochie Program Manager, Climate & Energy Categories: Energy East,

After years of advocacy and thousands of emails from supporters like you, the National Energy Board (NEB) finally listened: The climate impacts of the proposed Energy East pipeline matter, and should be assessed by the project review panel.

Last week, the NEB panel reviewing Energy East released a draft list of the issues it will consider when assessing the proposed pipeline. The panel proposes to consider the carbon emissions associated with Energy East. This includes the emissions from the construction and operation of the proposed pipeline, the tar sands expansion it would enable, and the emissions from burning the oil carried by Energy East.

Carbon pollution might seem like an obvious issue for the NEB to consider, but it’s actually a first! And it’s the result of years of pressure from the Canadian public and groups like Environmental Defence. It’s part of a last-ditch effort by the federal government to restore some semblance of public confidence in the NEB’s review of Energy East.

The assessment of carbon pollution isn’t the only first. Last week’s announcement also invites the public to comment on the new list of issues the review panel proposes to assess. In the past, only a limited list of approved participants was allowed to comment and participate in the review. You can send comments to the review panel here.

The new Energy East panel also proposes a much more fulsome and detailed list of issues to take under consideration in its review—issues we’ve been pushing on for years, including:

- the impacts that government climate action (such as the Paris Agreement, Canada’s climate targets, the pan-Canadian climate framework, the Alberta Oil Sands Emissions Cap, and other provincial and federal climate plans) may have on the economic need for the project;
- the environmental and socioeconomic impacts, carbon pollution, and changes to electricity demand that would result from the operation of Energy East;
- Expanded consideration of the effects of marine shipping from the 300 per cent increase in tankers that Energy East would bring to the Bay of Fundy;

These are crucial issues that Environmental Defence and others asked the NEB panel to include in its assessment of Energy East.

The NEB panel has taken positive steps with this announcement, but it is putting the cart before the horse. Just days after the proposed additions to the list of issues, the Expert Panel on NEB Modernization released a report recommending dramatic changes to energy regulation, environmental assessments, and pipeline reviews in Canada. It even recommended the abolition of the NEB itself. The recommended reforms could take months, perhaps years, to implement.

If the federal government truly wants a credible review of Energy East that enjoys public confidence, it should postpone the NEB review until the overhaul of energy regulation and environmental laws is complete. Anything less will lack credibility and be plagued by controversy and delay. Moving forward with the review would make Energy East the last tar sands pipeline to undergo NEB review using a broken, outdated process by a regulator that might not even exist a year from now.

But if the federal government insists on moving forward with the Energy East—before NEB modernization is complete—then we need to be able to tell the NEB that this pipeline would blow Canada’s climate commitments and the Alberta emissions cap, and does not make economic sense in a world moving away from fossil fuels.

For the first time ever in a NEB pipeline review(!), make your voice heard. Tell the Energy East panel to consider carbon pollution in its review of Energy East.

= = = =

More Posts By Patrick DeRochie

- NEB review panel may assess Energy East’s carbon pollution - May 19, 2017
[ http://environmentaldefence.ca/2017/05/ ... pollution/ ]

- Expert Panel report recommends NEB overhaul – but is it enough? - May 17, 2017
[ http://environmentaldefence.ca/2017/05/ ... ul-enough/ ]

- ALL waterways must be protected from Energy East spills, say NW Ontario residents - May 10, 2017
[ http://environmentaldefence.ca/2017/05/ ... residents/ ]

- Big changes ahead for Canada’s environmental laws - April 11, 2017
[ http://environmentaldefence.ca/2017/04/ ... ntal-laws/ ]

- How to overhaul Canada’s pipeline regulator - April 7, 2017
[ http://environmentaldefence.ca/2017/04/ ... regulator/ ]
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Re: ENERGY EAST: NEB may assess carbon pollution

Postby Oscar » Sat May 20, 2017 12:19 pm

Quill Plains chapter calls on the NEB to include upstream & downstream emissions in Energy East review

[ https://canadians.org/blog/quill-plains ... ast-review ]

May 20, 2017 - 8:11 am

The Council of Canadians Quill Plains (Wynyard) chapter has told the National Energy Board (NEB) that it supports the inclusion of upstream and downstream greenhouse gas emissions in its list of issues when evaluating the 1.1 million barrel per day Trans Canada Energy East tar sands pipeline.

Chapter activist Elaine Hughes has told the NEB, "I commend the panel for its proposal to consider the upstream and downstream greenhouse gas emissions of Energy East, as well as the expanded List of Issues the panel has included in its draft."

West Coast Environmental Law explains, "Upstream emissions, for an oil or gas pipeline, are those emissions involved in getting oil and gas out of the ground and into the pipeline. Downstream emissions are those that happen after the oil and gas has left the pipeline and is burned by its end-users."

The Financial Post reports, "The National Energy Board may consider the upstream and downstream emissions associated with the construction of TransCanada Corp.’s massive Energy East pipeline project. The NEB released a draft list of issues [on May 10] that its hearing panel might consider as it reviews TransCanada’s application to build Energy East... The new draft list of issues the regulator may consider for the Energy East project includes economic considerations, aboriginal impacts, safety issues and landowner considerations — all of which were commonplace in past NEB reviews."

The Globe and Mail adds, "[The NEB] asked for feedback before it finalizes the list of issues that it will assess during the review." The National Observer further specifies, "Members of the public have until May 31 to comment on the preliminary list of subjects for both the Energy East and Eastern Mainline projects."

- - - - (Send comments: [ https://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/50999/p/ ... 207&Email= ]) - - - - -

During the October 2015 federal election, the Liberals promised they would "ensure that environmental assessments include an analysis of upstream impacts and greenhouse gas emissions resulting from projects under review." In January 2016, the Trudeau government announced that projects would be assessed based on their upstream (filling the pipeline) and direct (construction) greenhouse gas emissions, but there was no commitment to assess the much larger downstream (burning the oil) emissions. As the West Coast Environmental Law Association points out, "Since 89% of emissions for a project may be from so-called 'downstream' emissions (in the case of the Kinder Morgan Pipeline, for example), that’s a major emission omission."

The Energy East pipeline would generate about 32 million tonnes of upstream greenhouse gas emissions a year, a presumably much larger amount of downstream greenhouse gas emissions, enable a 39 per cent increase in tar sands production from 2012 levels, cross 2,900 waterways, would threaten the drinking water of 5 million people, and is opposed by the 122 First Nations in both Canada and the U.S. that comprise the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion.

The National Energy Board hearings on the pipeline were stopped in August 2016 following the scandal of two review panel commissioners privately having met with former Quebec premier Jean Charest, a paid consultant with TransCanada. In January 2017, the NEB officially appointed three new members to a panel to review the pipeline proposal. It has not been made public when the NEB hearings - in which The Council of Canadians is registered as an intervenor - will resume. There has been speculation that the new in-service target date for the pipeline is 2022.

The Council of Canadians has been opposing the Energy East tar sands pipeline project since February 2013.

Tags: chapters
[ https://canadians.org/tags/chapters ]


Brent Patterson's blog
Political Director of the Council of Canadians
[ https://canadians.org/blogs/brent-patterson ]
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