Premier Rachel Notley’s plan to buy 80 locomotives and 7,000 oil cars just simply won’t work because she is sending Alberta oil to a market already flooded with excess oil production.
The U.S. is exporting surplus oil this week for the first time in 60 years so instead of spending millions on oil trains Notley might consider appealing to the federal government to allow Alberta to contract U.S. train operators to haul Alberta oil to their market.
U.S. rail companies might also be able to move northbound traffic and reduce the empty backhaul that would face a Canadian line. Of course, pipelines are far safer than hauling oil by train and over the long term though, we need to have access to the Far East for Alberta and Saskatchewan oil.
In late 2015, I produced a paper called “Getting Alberta Oil to Tidewater,” which I also presented to the Feb. 27, 2016, federal Liberal convention.
I proposed that we build an oil export terminal at Prince Rupert, B.C., and a pipeline from Alberta along the Yellowhead and CN right of way, which would not allow any interference from native bands.
I also opposed Bill 48 which, if passed, would ban tanker traffic on our north Pacific Coast. Nobody listened at the time, but since then my position has received growing support not just from the oil industry but also from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, consultants and Martha Hall Findlay of the Canada West Foundation who calls the tanker ban an “hypocrisy”: Prince Rupert has a deep sea harbour with direct access to the Far East and two days shorter in shipping time than Vancouver.
It was also suggested to me by a consultant this week that the Canadian government should start building the Prince Rupert oil terminal this year, so that we might ship oil by train while the pipeline is being built.
The bill to ban tanker traffic on the north B.C. coast is before the Senate this month and I hope our branch of government of second sober thought will kill this bill so we can build a much-needed pipeline to Prince Rupert; who knows if we will ever get approval for the Trans Mountain line, which is hung up in litigation.
The Prince Rupert terminal could charge a per barrel tariff and pay off the cost in a few years. I would sooner see an oil industry corporation build the oil terminal and also charge a tariff to users.
Bob Russell, St. Albert
