President Barack Obama's veto of the Keystone XL pipeline upset stakeholders across Canada earlier this month, but his characterization of Canadian crude oil as "dirty" added insult to injury for many in Alberta.
President Barack Obama's veto of the Keystone XL pipeline upset stakeholders across Canada earlier this month, but his characterization of Canadian crude oil as "dirty" added insult to injury for many in Alberta.
"Pipelines are by far the safest route to go, so the fact that President Obama is labeling our oil as bad oil offends me to no end," said Bonnyville - Cold Lake MLA Scott Cyr.
Obama used his presidential veto to nix the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have carried bitumen from Alberta's oil sands to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries in Texas. During a press conference earlier this month, he said approving Keystone would undercut America's global leadership in fighting climate change.
"Shipping dirtier crude oil into our country would not increase America's energy security," Obama said at the White House on Nov. 6. "What has increased America's energy security is our strategy over the past several years to reduce our reliance on dirty fossil fuels from unstable parts of the world."
His comments drew criticism from across party lines in Alberta, with many pointing out that Canadian crude oil exports to the U.S. continue to grow and so do the number of pipelines within the U.S.
"I think his decision is really being driven by ideology and by partisanship and not actually by what is in the best interest of the U.S., of our energy partnership between our two countries, and of course not in the best interest of Alberta energy development," said Lakeland MP Shannon Stubbs.
"I think it had to do with the ever more organized and aggressive tactics of what I think are more extreme environmental activists and that impacted domestic politics and partisan considerations for the politicians in the U.S."
Premier Rachel Notley said that although she wasn't surprised by the announcement, she was disappointed by the way the United States chose to characterize Alberta's energy exports.
"The decision...underlines the need to improve our environmental record and reputation so that we can achieve our goal of building Canada's energy infrastructure, including pipelines to new markets," said Notley.
Canada exports about three million barrels of oil to the United States every day. According to the American Petroleum Institute, the United States has the largest network of energy pipelines in the world, with approximately 55,000 miles (88,500 kilometres) of crude oil trunk lines in the U.S. that connect regional markets.
"Wildrose rejects the assertion...that Alberta oil is somehow dirtier than products in America or imported across the world," said Wildrose Leader Brian Jean in a statement. "It is simply false and misleading. Both Venezuela and California oil fields have higher per-barrel emissions."
Alberta Liberal Leader David Swann urged TransCanada to reconsider applying again the future. In a statement, he expressed his dismay at the politicization of Keystone.
"Over the last seven years, Keystone evolved into a proxy war over climate change," said Swann. "This was in spite of findings by the U.S. State Department which showed that the pipeline could be built without undue environmental harm and consequences."
Critics also pointed out that, with the rejection of Keystone, crude would have to be moved by rail across the border, which increases the possibility of potential environmental disasters. Two oil-bearing trains derailed in Wisconsin since Obama's announcement, causing the Wildrose to put pressure on the Alberta and federal governments to adopt pipelines as the preferred method to get Alberta crude to tidewater.
"If the NDP really care about safety, the environment, and Alberta's prosperity, they will quit trying to play both sides and devote themselves to getting pipelines built as soon as possible," said Wildrose Shadow Energy Minister Leela Aheer.
Within the Lakeland, Stubbs said that loading up trains with oil could also potentially create a rift between the energy and agriculture sectors.
"One of the reasons we know in past that there have been sometimes delays and backlogs on shipping grain is because there's oil on the train," said Stubbs.
"This is an area where implementing and completing pipelines would also benefit the agriculture sector, and yes, we as representatives of this area and the province need to keep advocating for the safe, efficient, affordable and economic transport of crude oil which is pipelines."
However, with 2016 being an election year in the United States, and the Republicans echoing support for Keystone XL, there is a chance the pipeline could make a comeback.
"The Republicans down in the States have been very receptive to the Keystone XL pipeline whereas the Democrats haven't and if we get a Republican President it is possible that we are able to move this forward again, so I am optimistic because it looks like the election might move in that direction," Cyr noted.
With Keystone XL shelved, proponents of pipelines feel the province should now focus on getting Alberta oil to tidewater through other pipelines.
"Right now we got to concentrate on getting the Energy East project up and going and also the pipeline to the west coast because obviously we cannot depend on getting Keystone approved with the current Obama administration," said Fort McMurray - Cold Lake MP David Yurdiga.
Before Parliament convenes in December, Yurdiga will meet with fellow Conservative MPs from Alberta to discuss how to they can advocate for pipelines.
"It's going to be a balanced approach, it's going to be the Alberta caucus, including myself, pushing the Liberal government and also working with all the provinces because obviously we have to get approvals form all the provinces," Yurdiga stated. "It's still a challenge but we got to look at what's best for Canada and the pipeline is best for Canada.
Eastern Canada continues to import thousands of barrels a day from abroad because there has been little infrastructure connecting Western Canadian oil supplies to eastern markets.
"The fact that we're not selling oil to the east but they're buying Middle East oil concerns me to no end," Cyr said. "We should be looking at refining as much oil as we can in Canada, and possibly some day in the future in Alberta, but for now we need to get our oil to markets."
Cyr added that uncertainty from the royalty review and carbon tax is also slowing recovery in the energy sector.
"Right now pipelines are critical but also making sure that we bring certainty back to Alberta again by finishing off this royalty review and the carbon tax review and it needs to be done now, not six or eight months from now because as long as they're doing this review we're not going to see nay capital being invested in our riding, which means no jobs."
As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gears up to attend the Paris Climate Conference later this month, Stubbs said she will fighting to ensure the government doesn't strike a deal that jeopardizes jobs and economic stability in the Lakeland.
"Canada just can't sign up to an international agreement without the other major industrial emitters of the world being included in that deal because otherwise it means that Canada would just be sacrificing our economy and our jobs for no reason and in a way that wont actually make meaningful changes in environmental stewardship."
She will also continue to support pipelines to get Alberta oil to the market.
"We know that increasing our export markets and our pipeline capacity is critical for our industry and for our economy in the long term," Stubbs added.
"It's also very important for the long term energy security and the viability of north America as a whole."
