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FIVE REASONS PRIME MINISTER TRUDEAU SHOULD REJECT THE PROPOSED KINDER MORGAN PIPELINE

All Canadians want prosperity for each other. No one wants to see anyone out of work in Alberta or anywhere. Realistically, this means diversifying our economy and not creating any more dependence on a sunset industry.

Here's why Prime Minister Trudeau should reject the Kinder Morgan pipeline

1. THERE IS NO NEED

Our pipeline system currently has a surplus capacity of almost 500,000 barrels per day, enough to easily accommodate exports for projects currently operating and under construction in Canada.
Every year since 2012, Canada’s oil industry lobby group - the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers - has falsely claimed we would run out of capacity within a year. Each year comes and it doesn’t happen…not even close. Basing the need for more pipelines on their bad math would be ridiculous at this point.

Also, there are ALREADY more expansions planned for the pipeline network: Enbridge is currently planning to add 800,000 barrels a day worth of pipeline capacity to its mainline system by 2020, which wouldn’t require new permits as it would be an expansion rather than a new pipeline. On top of that, Keystone is likely to be approved which would add an extra 900,000 barrels per day. Canadian oil can already reach Asian and European markets via the existing TransMountain pipeline to Vancouver as well as through terminals in the west and south coasts of the USA.

2. CLIMATE COMMITMENTS MADE IN PARIS

The only reason new pipeline proposals like Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain would be required is if there’s a massive expansion of the oilsands - a move that would completely undermine the Paris Agreement and our other international climate commitments. Unconventional oil and gas extraction is Canada’s leading source of greenhouse gases and creates even more GHGs than our transportation sector (all the cars, trains, buses, trucks and everything else that moves COMBINED). The Paris Climate Agreement means the world has to be off a good portion of our fossil fuel consumption by 2030 and almost completely by 2050 to prevent us from going over 2 degrees of warming. This means the oil sands are stranded assets -and investors know it. The global movement to divest investment away from fossil fuels is over $3.4 trillion and growing.

The increased intensity of droughts, storms, flooding and fires is costing our economy more and more each year and devastating the most vulnerable areas of the world. This is creating terrible human and animal suffering and countless climate refugees. There are predictable security risks that inevitably come from the desperate vacuum misery and poverty generates. Unless we all work together to curb emissions, these problems will get worse and worse. Canada produces 4 times more greenhouse gases per capita than the world average and overall we are the 10th highest polluter. We need to do better and expanding Canada’s fossil fuel industry at this moment in history is frankly unethical.

3. CANADA NEEDS TO HELP THE MIDDLE CLASS

Creating energy independent citizens through solar, geothermal heating and cooling and electric vehicles will shift money into the hands of 99% of Canadian citizens and spur healthy economic growth in every region from coast to coast to coast. For every $1 million invested, clean energy creates 15 jobs while the same investment in oil and gas only produces 2. If the government uses policies and rebates to encourage Canadians to be energy producers we will all benefit financially, save money on energy bills and have more money to spend on other things.

Worldwide the clean technology economy is worth $1 trillion, and is expected to grow to $3 trillion by 2020. Canada currently only captures 1% of the global clean-tech market. Over the next 15 years the international low carbon transition will require a projected $90 trillion in new infrastructure investments. Canada can choose to stay focused on fossils and simply be a buyer of clean technology or we can switch our investment focus away from fossils and become a leader in clean energy technology development and sell low carbon products and inventions worldwide.

4. MARKET CAN’T SUPPORT IT

Sands oil is expensive to extract and expensive to refine. Most oil sands projects lose money when oil is under $65 a barrel. WCS crude is currently around $31 a barrel and experts predict prices will remain under $65 for the next 10 years due to the global glut. The world is producing 2 million more barrels a day than it is using and there are over 3 billion barrels of oil now in storage around the world. A pipeline wouldn't solve the oil price dilemma, in fact it would make it worse – the Kinder Morgan expansion would add 600,000 barrels a day to the surplus and further reduce oil prices.

China signed an energy deal with Russia and is also seeking a pipeline straight from Iran to get the cheapest possible price. The price we’d get for our oil in Europe and China would likely be even lower than what we get in the USA. Venezuelan crude (similar to ours) fetches an extremely low price in Europe. Plus the third world is already leapfrogging to renewables. The “markets” we are seeking are not as lucrative or abundant as the oil industry claims. Much has changed in the last 5 years and using old data and old projection models is not a wise way to govern. Shell recently updated their forecast and said worldwide consumption will decline by 2020. The International Energy Agency just updated their projections and came to the same conclusion. We are in a new era of low prices and clean energy transition.

5. FIRST NATIONS RIGHTS

First Nations rights were declared by the Supreme Court. As guardians of the natural world, no amount of bribery will sway their duty to protect the environment when clean energy is a better option for prosperity and future generations. The fallout of approving the Kinder Morgan pipeline will be severe with plenty of potential for lawsuits and Standing Rock-type mass protests. First Nations, environmental groups and the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby have already taken legal action against this pipeline project.

50 First Nations communities from Canada and the northern United States signed a treaty recently to jointly fight proposals to build more pipelines. Non-consensual approval of the Kinder Morgan pipeline would be yet another disrespectful slap in the face and ruin reconciliation attempts with First Nations.

Please Prime Minister Trudeau, reject this pipeline.
Sincerely, Meanwhile in Canada.

REFERENCES
Surplus capacity: http://priceofoil.org/…/20…/10/cappmath-biefing-final-v3.pdf
CAPP's yearly false claims of running out of capacity: http://www.cappmath.ca/
Enbridge can add 800,000 barrels a day by 2020 without new permit: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/…/enbridge-…/article26696942/
Keystone likely to be approved: http://business.financialpost.com/…/to-approve-keystone-xl-…
Already able to reach tidewater and Asian markets through existing Transmountain: http://business.financialpost.com/…/to-approve-keystone-xl-…
and the west coast of USA: http://business.financialpost.com/…/how-new-oil-terminals-p…
and the south coast of USA: https://www.oilonline.com/…/transcanada-begins-crude-shipme…
Oil sands losing money: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/…/oilsands-losing-money_n_8969…
Greenhouse gases per sector: http://www.cbc.ca/…/oil-industry-canada-s-biggest-contribut…
Global divestment trend from fossils: http://www.bloomberg.com/…/fossil-fuel-divestment-tops-3-4-…
Greenhouse gases per capita: https://en.wikipedia.org/…/List_of_countries_by_greenhouse_…
climate refugees and national security: https://www.scientificamerican.com/…/climage-refugees-nati…/
Clean energy jobs in Canada better investment: http://bluegreencanada.ca/…/More%20Bang%20for%20Buck%20Nov%…
Global clean energy economy worth trillions: http://institute.smartprosperity.ca/…/default/files/newthin…
Benefits of being clean energy leaders: http://www.jwnenergy.com/…/will-canada-be-seller-or-buyer-…/
Global oil glut: http://www.cbc.ca/…/global-oil-glut-grows-to-2-million-barr…
China and Iranian oil: http://www.scmp.com/…/iran-wants-help-energy-pipeline-expan…
First Nations: http://www.cbc.ca/…/montreal-vancouver-indigenous-oil-sands…