Increasing oil and gas production while at the same time trying to reduce carbon emissions are conflicting priorities. Expanding oil sands production by 53 per cent and emissions by 47 per cent above 2014 levels, as allowed under Alberta’s Climate Leadership Plan, will require the rest of the Canadian economy to reduce emissions by 47 per cent by 2030 to meet Canada’s Paris Agreement commitments. This will be virtually impossible in the time remaining barring an economic collapse. Three new pipelines have been approved and a fourth (Energy East) is under review even though oil supply forecasts show that not all are needed. Of these, the TMEP is perhaps the worst choice because it must cross rugged, environmentally sensitive terrain, and would require greatly expanded tanker traffic into Vancouver’s Lower Mainland, southern BC’s most-populated area, and its ecologically vulnerable marine environment. The fact that the TMEP was approved by the NEB based on inflated oil supply and price assumptions, and without considering the other approved pipelines, should also have been a key consideration before federal approval was granted.

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