Alberta Drafts Three Pipeline Routes, All of Them Through Someone Else's Backyard
Internal documents reveal Alberta is considering three possible oil pipeline routes through northern B.C., a province that has not, as of press time, been asked.
The routes differ slightly in elevation, watershed and which Indigenous nations will be invited to a consultation meeting scheduled for the Tuesday after the pipe is laid. Officials in Edmonton described the proposals as a thoughtful menu of options, while officials in Victoria described them as a thoughtful menu of lawsuits.
"We've learned from past mistakes," said one Alberta source, declining to specify which mistakes or whether learning had occurred. The favoured route reportedly crosses 1,100 kilometres of terrain that B.C. Premier David Eby has previously called "my province."
Asked whether the federal government would intervene, a spokesperson in Ottawa said the file was being studied carefully, which is the Ottawa term for placed on a shelf next to the electoral reform binder.
The oil industry insists the project is essential for national unity, a phrase historically deployed about ten minutes before national disunity. B.C., for its part, has begun drafting three possible routes for Alberta wine to leave its liquor stores.
No timeline has been announced. The pipeline is expected to be completed shortly after the next three elections, two royal commissions and one polite but firm Supreme Court decision telling everyone to start over.