TransCanada president: U.S. confidence in oil pipelines needs to be rebuilt

CALGARY, Alta. - A top official of TransCanada expressed concern on July 7 over a string of recent crude oil pipeline leaks and spills in the U.S., stressing the need to rebuild public confidence.

"Incidents in the past 18 months have shaken public confidence and threatened the social license of pipeline companies to do business," company President Russell Girling said at a TD Securities conference here.

"Things have happened that were not supposed to occur. As an industry, we need to work closer with regulators and peers to restore public confidence. This will come with us paying new costs in terms of fixing the operational facilities and assuming environmental stewardship."

His statement came as TransCanada's controversial application for its Keystone XL Pipeline project remained pending before the U.S. State Department, which must approve its license because it is a cross-border project.

Oil industry launches ad campaign to tout Keystone XL approval

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The American Petroleum Institute is launching a new advertising and media campaign designed to boost support for domestic oil production and the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would deliver Canadian tar sands crude to Gulf Coast refineries.

The campaign, dubbed "Keys to the Future," is the latest bid by the oil industry’s largest U.S. trade group to advance the controversial pipeline project, which is currently under State Department review.

Ads are already running in inside-the-Beltway publications distributed on Capitol Hill. Online and print advertising also will appear in nine key states: Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

API President Jack Gerard told reporters that the "campaign will help policy makers and the public understand the oil and natural gas industry is a major and constructive force in rebuilding our economy and that it stands ready to do much more."

The advertising push is focusing first on energy security. API is touting its blueprint for weaning the U.S. off oil imported from countries outside North America. Under the analysis, the U.S. could get 92 percent of its liquid energy needs domestically and from Canada by 2030 - compared to 62 percent today.

But that forecast assumes the U.S. approves the Keystone XL pipeline that would transport oilsands crude from Alberta to southeast Texas. It also is contingent on a jump in biofuels production, from eight percent today to 14 percent in 2030.

API’s prediction also is wedded to boosted domestic oil and gas production both on and offshore - including in areas such as along the Pacific Coast where there is strong resistance to offshore drilling.

API has been lobbying Congress and the administration for increased access to domestic oil and gas reserves and approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.

"It’s taken policymakers far too long to take these constructive steps to generate jobs and generate revenues to the federal government," Gerard said.

Critics argue that there's no guarantee that boosted domestic oil and gas drilling - or even imported products from Canada - would remain in the U.S., especially given that the U.S. was a net exporter of petroleum products in February and March, even as gas prices soared.

El Paso opens Pandora’s Box in deal with environmental groups

VERNAL, Utah - Uintah County is the latest government unit to join in opposing a $20 million agreement between energy company El Paso Corp. and two conservation groups.
“There’s nothing secret about it, it’s an agreement between two private parties,” said Jon Marvel, executive director of Western Watersheds Project conservation group.
The other group, the Oregon Natural Desert Association, is aligned with Marvel’s group in the effort to preserve wildlife habitat along the pipeline corridor.
Marvel told the Vernal Express that the partnership evolved from El Paso’s 680-mile Ruby Pipeline Project, which is building the Ruby natural gas pipeline from Wyoming to Oregon.
Uintah County has joined with a dozen counties from Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and Oregon in opposition to the conservation agreement. The group calls themselves the Multi-County Pipeline Coalition and commissioners question the wisdom of paying-off conservation groups in order to do business on federal lands.
“We oppose the precedent of paying private groups not to sue,” said Uintah County Commissioner Mike McKee, “not the pipeline itself.”
“The money will be used by the Sagebrush Habitat Conservation Fund to mitigate the negative effects of construction on 14,000 acres of federal land,” said Marvel.
But, county commissioners allege that the agreement is really a concerted effort to eliminate livestock grazing on public lands.
At issue is the voluntary relinquishment of grazing permits by stockmen to develop wildlife conservation easements in the path of the pipeline.
“It’s not a buyout to get rid of grazing on public land, but, if it was - it wouldn’t be a bad thing,” Marvel said.
His comments quickly raise the ire of stockmen who use public lands.
Opponents of the agreement, who met in Salt Lake City on Aug. 9, dispute Marvel’s comments, saying the agreement presents a bad precedent.
“We’re against converting livestock grazing units to wildlife (conservation easements),” said McKee.

Poll finds 80 percent of British Columbians oppose Enbridge pipeline

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Enbridge should be looking at opinion polls and events in the United States instead of filing for federal approval to build a $5.5 billion pipeline from Alberta to a marine export terminal at Kitimat, says one opponent of the project.
Nikki Skuce of the environmental group ForestEthics says all Enbridge will do is spend millions of dollars and years of time promoting its Northern Gateway plan when people don’t want it.
“We’re clearly disappointed they’re ignoring the majority of the people of B.C. and First Nations,” said Skuce.
Her comments are based on a May opinion poll conducted for ForestEthics indicating that 80 percent of British Columbians don’t want oil tankers coming into and out of north coast waters.
Skuce is not convinced the pipeline review, to be conducted by a three-person panel through the federal National Energy Board, will be unbiased enough to produce a suitable document.
“Who pays for the National Energy Board? The proponent, the industry,” said Skuce. Skuce also questions the need for any kind of review given that various First Nations have conducted their own assessment of the project and have judged it unwanted.
The Dogwood Initiative, a Victoria-based public interest group which shared the cost of the opinion poll, said “We cannot imagine a scenario where Enbridge, or any proponent, is able to overcome the political forces organized against a new West Coast pipeline. And we consider ourselves a fairly imaginative group of people,” said Eric Swanson.
The poll results were part of a Mustel Group omnibus random telephone survey of 500 British Columbians in May 2010. Results on a sample size of 500 are considered accurate to within +/- 4.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Here is the first question: “Since 1972, the Canadian federal government has banned oil tankers from transporting crude oil through B.C.’s inside passage to protect the coast from oil spills. Now, Ottawa is considering allowing oil tankers to transport crude oil through our coastal waters. In your opinion, should we ban or allow oil tanker traffic in B.C.’s inside coastal waters?”
Of those who responded, 15.4 per cent would allow traffic, 80 per cent would ban it, four per cent did not know and 0.6 per cent refused to answer.
The second question was: “Based on what you currently know, would you say you support or oppose Enbridge’s proposal to build an oil pipeline from the tar sands and bring oil tanker traffic to B.C.’s North Coast? Would that be strongly or somewhat?”
Responses were 8.1 per cent who would strongly support it, 25.6 per cent who would somewhat support it, 19.3 per cent who were somewhat opposed, 31.7 who were strongly opposed, with 13.5 per cent who don’t know and 1.8 per cent who refused to answer.