The expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline is a disaster in the making. First of all, the pipeline is going to become a major environmental disaster. Paris was part of the Paris Agreements, which called on all nations to ensure they reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, the country has in place a target set for 2030 (Environment and Climate Change Canada 2019). The nation aims at ensuring that its emissions are 8% below those of 2005. By 2050, the government aims at ensuring Canada becomes a net-zero-free-emission nation (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2019). However, with the expansion of the pipeline, it is a clear indication that the country will not meet even its 2030 goals. Environmental degradation has become a significant concern for major actors ranging from the First Nations, Environmental Groups, British Columbia, and some private sector players. The processing and mining of bitumen are toxic and energy-intensive. After bitumen is mined, it is turned into dilbit by combining bitumen with benzene, neurotoxins, and carcinogens that are not only volatile but flammable. This process requires a lot of energy and releases substantial amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Moreover, the conversion and mining of bitumen require a significant amount of water. In this case, the Athabasca River shall provide the source, and the sludge will also be diverted back into the river, converting it into toxic sludge (Schindler, 2014). This will affect all aquatic life in the river, including other biodiversities along the shores. Moreover, the lands will not be reclaimed after the extraction of more oil to feed the pipeline with the required oil levels. There will be acres of land that will be uninhabitable for years. Likewise, according to British Columbia, its primary concern is pipeline leaks and oil spills. One of the major concerns for the marine world is oil spills. These are not only environmental concerns but also commercial ones. The adverse outcomes of oil spills have been known to affect the environment for years. In addition to affecting marine life, once the oil spill reaches the coastlines and shores, it can affect human settlements, forests, and beaches. In short, oil spills can affect an entire ecosystem. One of the most significant oil spills is the Deep-water Horizon (Bergstrand & Mayer, 2017). The damage leads to tremendous environmental damage. In this case, the expansion of the pipeline could lead to such disasters, which will affect the Canadian ecosystem for years. In 2010, the people from Kalamazoo, Michigan, suffered from pipeline spills, and the outcomes were catastrophic (Grant, 2014). In the case of the Trans Mountain pipeline, since its takeover by the Kinder Morgan Corporation, it has experienced about 13 oil spills. Another major issue with the pipeline expansion is that it possesses a significant risk to the indigenous people of Canada. The Dakota Pipeline is an example of one that brought about disagreements between the Meskwaki and the federal government (Whyte, 2017). Other tribes that opposed the construction of the pipeline included the Cheyenne River Sioux and Standing Rock Sioux tribes (Whyte, 2017). The principal argument is that the pipeline threatened their way of life, land, water, and people. The expansions of the Trans Mountain pipeline will bring about similar conflicts. Since the expansion requites, indigenous tribes have moved into court to ensure that it does not happen. They have argued that there were no consultations; hence it does not have their consent. The nations have been involved in multiple legal battles with the government though they have always been turned down. This is a violation of their human rights. The negative impacts of the pipeline are evidenced by a study by Huseman & Short (2012). The results show that the indigenous groups living in Saskatchewan and Northern Alberta have had their land, air, and water polluted, including their way of life threatened. This makes the communities feel as though they are still battling for survival in a world that has become democratic.
However, the supporters of pipeline construction have argued that it is essential for the Canadian economy. The nation has been struggling to get its natural resources into global markets for some time. Canada has tried to implement various strategies to get its oil into the global markets, which have still faced roadblocks. However, the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, will enable Canada to reach a broader local market. Moreover, the supporters have argued that it is good for the economy, and will lead to the creation of more employment opportunities. This makes the expansions focused on positive public interests. Natural resources do not only bring about positive outcomes for those who work for the companies but also for other companies and businesses such as the services sector, transportation, and construction. This will indicate that employment opportunities will crop up in almost all Canadian industries. Contrary to what the supporters of the Trans Mountain Pipeline argue, there is no economic need for expanding the pipeline. Moreover, the economic benefits do not outweigh the risks in many ways. The supporters must be aware of the detrimental environmental and human rights violations brought about by the pipeline expansion. There is enough evidence already to show the negative impacts of pipeline oil spills and disasters across the globe. The initial arguments by the supporters have only been focused on the private financial interests of Western Crude oil providers and Trans Mountain shareholders. Moreover, expanding the current pipeline to reach global markets is no longer necessary. The existing rail infrastructure and the pipeline are sufficient to meet all the oil exportation infrastructure needs. Moreover, the constant decrease of oil prices across the globe will reduce the supply of oil, and this makes the future oil supply predictions of the supporters invalid.
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References
Bergstrand, K., & Mayer, B. (2017). Transformative environmental threats: behavioral and attitudinal change five years after the deepwater horizon oil spill. Environmental sociology , 3 (4), 348-358.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (2019). Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators: Progress towards Canada's greenhouse gas emissions reduction target. Available at: www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/environmentalindicators/progress-towards-canada-greenhouse-gas-emissions-reduction-target.html .
Grant, S. (2014). The Kalamazoo River Spill: Pipelines, Politics, and Economies of Knowledge (Doctoral dissertation).
Huseman, J., & Short, D. (2012). ‘A slow industrial genocide’: tar sands and the indigenous peoples of northern Alberta. The International Journal of Human Rights , 16 (1), 216-237.
Schindler, D. W. (2014). Unraveling the comple xity of pollution by the oil sands industry. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 111 (9), 3209-3210.
Whyte, K. (2017). The Dakota access pipeline, environmental injustice, and US colonialism. Red Ink: An International Journal of Indigenous Literature, Arts, & Humanities , (19.1).
| Category of actor | Name of actor | Supporter or opponent? | Key interests/concerns |
| Governments (local, provincial, federal or other) | Government of Alberta | Supporter | Create new markets for oil and dilbit; obtain more royalties from energy companies; create more jobs in the tar sands |
| Government of British Columbia | Opponent | Expansion increases chances of oil spill into the ocean, lack of powers to ban and regulate tankers, pipeline will lead to flow of bitumen and oil sands into BC environmental grounds | |
| Federal Government | Supporter | Create more employment opportunities, increase export revenues from the USA and Asia | |
| Government of Burnaby | Supporter | Open more employment opportunities, more revenue from taxes paid by Trans Mountain | |
| Private sector | Nature’s Path Food | Opponent | Environmental concerns, |
| The Red Academy Adventure Canada | Opponent | Environmental concerns, Violation of human rights | |
| Banking Institutions | Supporters | Creation of new employment opportunities, more revenue for banks form loans, good for economic growth | |
| Petroleum Industry Customers | Supporters | Canada will become a leading oil supplier, creation of many employment opportunities, goo for the economy | |
| Environmental groups | Ecojustice | Opponent | Affect endangered species such as orcas |
| Raincoast Conservation Foundation | Opponent | Increased emissions from extracting oil at Alberta oil sands and transporting oil, increased emissions from the pipeline expansion | |
| Climate Justice | Opponent | Canada struggling to meet its greenhouse gas emission targets | |
| Living Oceans Society | Opponent | Oil spills affect southern resident killer whales, | |
| First Nations | Coldwater | Opponent | Lack of fair compensation, environmental concerns |
| Kwantlen | Opponent | Affect their way of life, environmental concerns | |
| Squamish | Opponent | Lack of consultation about project by Canada, environmental concerns | |
| Tsleil-Waututh | Opponent | Lack of fair compensation, affect the way of life, environmental concerns, oil spills affect spiritual and cultural gathering sites | |
| Others | Canadian Court of Appeal | Supporter | Stopping the pipeline expansion is imposing a standard of perception that is not required by law |
| National Energy Board | Supporter | Boon for the economy, more oil will go overseas hence more income, more jobs will be created for Canada | |
