St. Albert leaders say the federal government decision to approve two major pipelines is good news for the local economy.
On Tuesday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave the go ahead to the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline and the Enbridge's Line 3 expansion project while rejecting Enbridge's Northern Gateway Pipeline.
St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse thinks the decision will be good for the city but says it will probably have a secondary impact on the local economy.
“From the St. Albert point of view it will probably have a secondary impact rather than a primary impact,” Crouse said. “We have some residents who would be directly affected with work because that’s just the way the community is. There is an indirect effect because Alberta prospers as a result of this.”
The city has given a green light for a 617-acre industrial park on the west side of Ray Gibbon Drive, and although they haven’t targeted any particular industry they are trying to prepare for the potential demand.
Lynda Moffat, president and CEO at St. Albert & District Chamber of Commerce, says the city is surrounded by transportation routes and is well positioned to benefit from the pipeline project. She says the service industry will benefit and that there may be a dramatic shift in the economy due to the pipeline construction.
“We have an airport on our doorstep that gives an excellent opportunity for oil and gas executives to work out of here or have their air access to the north right here,” Moffat said. “Our transportation routes are excellent as far as being able to service the north. I think we are very well positioned.”
Moffat says to accommodate the potential new businesses, the city needs to make room with more light industrial areas for businesses to set up.
Although Tuesday’s announcement was good news for many Albertans, there have already been many vocal opponents of the decision.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May has stated that she will protest the construction of the pipelines and is willing to go to jail because “this is not an issue where you compromise.”
So far, Kinder Morgan has support from one third of the 120 indigenous groups that it has consulted on the project. Many other groups plan to protest the construction.
St. Albert-Edmonton MP Michael Cooper says it is great news for Alberta that the two pipelines were approved. Cooper disagrees with the prime minister’s decision to reject the Northern Gateway pipeline and the announcement of a tanker ban on the northern coast of British Columbia.
Cooper says the rejection of the pipeline was purely political and not based on scientific evidence. He also questions whether the project will actually get underway.
“Now it is a question of whether he [Trudeau] is going to champion the project through to completion,” Cooper said.
The Kinder Morgan pipeline will move product from Edmonton down to Burnaby, B.C. where it would gain access to Asian markets. The 1,150 kilometre development will triple the capacity of an existing pipeline from 300,000 barrels a day to 890,000. The increase in capacity will raise the amount of tankers travelling through the Vancouver waterways, from five to 34 a month.
The project is expected to cost $6.8 billion dollars, and create 15,000 jobs a year during construction and 37,000 more jobs every year after operation begins. The company says the expansion will create an additional $46.7 billion in revenue for all levels of government. Alberta would see the most of the revenue with $19.4 billion going into the province.
Kinder Morgan must meet 157 conditions that the National Energy Board has imposed on the pipeline before the project may begin. They plan to begin construction in the second half of 2017.
