The future of the oil tanker ban in northern B.C. waters is now in question after the federal and Alberta governments signed an energy agreement Thursday that sets the stage for a pipeline to the West Coast.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) includes a commitment from Ottawa to “enable the export of bitumen from a strategic deep-water port to Asian markets, including if necessary through an appropriate adjustment to the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act.”
Alberta and federal Conservatives have long argued the 2019 federal law prevents the building of new pipelines and therefore constrains the oil and gas industry, and have called for the federal government to repeal it.
The B.C. government and Coastal First Nations, however, are vowing to do everything in their power to keep the tanker ban in place, citing the “catastrophic” impact a future oil spill could have in the region.
Canada’s Energy Minister Tim Hodgson told Global News the MoU does not guarantee changes to the tanker ban, or that a future pipeline will go to northern B.C.
“There is no route today,” he said. “Under the MoU, what (Alberta) would need to do is work with the affected jurisdiction — British Columbia — and work with affected First Nations for that project to move forward. That’s what the work plan in the MoU calls for.”
Here’s what you need to know about the oil tanker ban, and what changing or repealing it would mean for Canada.
Bill C-48 — the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act — was first introduced by the Liberal government in 2017, and became law two years later after a protracted battle in the House of Commons and Senate and opposition from Alberta and the oil industry.
The legislation bans tankers carrying more than 12,500 metric tonnes of oil from docking in waters off the north of B.C.’s coast. The affected area stretches from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to the Alaska border, and encompasses the island of Haida Gwaii.
The Haida Nation and other Coastal First Nations had long called for the government to enshrine a voluntary moratorium on oil tankers in the area that had been observed since 1972. The law includes penalties up to $5 million for those that don’t comply.
Then-transport minister Marc Garneau, who sponsored the bill, defended it at the time by citing the “navigational hazards” of the region, which he said would make responding to an oil spill more challenging.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May in recent weeks has pointed specifically to the Hecate Strait between Haida Gwaii and the B.C. mainland, which she has called “the most dangerous body of water on the Canadian coastline.”
“It has tides and currents that are extraordinary — 10 to 30 metres (high). They sometimes go down so low that they expose the ocean floor,” she told reporters in Ottawa earlier this month.
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“You can’t wish away the science, and you can’t pretend an oil tanker isn’t going to break apart and contaminate the coast, sloshing back and forth oil between the north coast of the mainland of British Columbia and the east coast of Haida Gwaii.”
Either Kitimat — home to LNG Canada’s export facility — or the coastal port city of Prince Rupert could become the export points for a future bitumen oil pipeline from Alberta under the federal MoU, should a proponent come forward with such a plan.
That would require either an exemption for the project from the tanker ban, or changing its boundaries to allow oil tankers through the Dixon Entrance in order to carry oil to Asia.
In a statement, the Coastal First Nations made clear that’s not an option.
“We will never tolerate any exemptions or carveouts, period,” they said.
“There is no technology that can clean up an oil spill at sea or in a salmon river, and there is nothing in this MoU that overrides our inherent constitutional authority and stewardship responsibilities as the Rights and Title Holders of the Central and North Coast and Haida Gwaii.”
In September, the B.C. Supreme Court upheld the Haida Nation’s title rights over Haida Gwaii, giving the First Nation authority over the land and surrounding waters it has called home for generations.
May has similarly said that “there is no chance on God’s green earth that there is ever going to be an oil tanker up the B.C. north coast” and that First Nations and the B.C. government “won’t stand for it.”
“They’re not just barking up the wrong tree, they’re barking up the wrong forest,” she said this month, referring to the federal and Alberta governments.
Earlier this month, the B.C. government and Coastal First Nations signed a joint declaration to uphold the oil tanker ban.
B.C. Premier David Eby said repealing the tanker ban would “risk” near-term major projects and the consequence of a crude oil spill in those waters would be “generations of lost livelihoods and irreversible ecological damage.”
Eby said his government has underlined in multiple meetings with federal ministers and with Prime Minister Mark Carney that the oil tanker ban is a “foundational and critical catalyst” for economic activity in British Columbia.
The premier has said he supports expanding capacity of the Trans Mountain Pipeline that carries bitumen from Alberta to Metro Vancouver rather than pursuing an entirely new pipeline in the north.
Pipeline and energy proponents have noted that tankers do not need to transit through the Hecate Strait in order to travel to and from a northern B.C. port. U.S. oil tankers have also avoided the tanker ban zone when sailing between Alaska and west coast ports in Washington, Oregon and California.
Transport Canada said in a statement that “comprehensive and robust” safety rules are in place for vessels operating in the Hecate Strait, which includes cruise ships and other transport vessels.
Compulsory pilotage rules also apply to the broader northwest coastal region covered by the tanker ban, requiring certain vessels to have a certified marine pilot on board to help navigate ships through the sometimes-treacherous waters and small islands in the area.
Those specially-trained pilots serve as an extra set of eyes for vessels in certified pilotage zones along the B.C. coast and in other parts of Canada. They are not required for vessels transiting outside those zones or smaller, privately-owned boats.
Vessels that must adhere to those rules include tankers carrying carrying liquified natural gas to and from the LNG Canada export facility in Kitimat. However, those ships port at Prince Rupert and transit through the Dixon Entrance north of Haidi Gwaii, bypassing the Hecate Strait altogether.
Experts say lifting the tanker ban would remove only one of many obstacles deterring the private sector from backing a pipeline project.
Smith and industry leaders have said repeatedly no pipeline project is worthwhile as long as the tanker ban remains in place.
Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel said in a speech last month his company wouldn’t build a “pipeline to nowhere,” citing the industry’s inability to export oil off the B.C. coast because of the tanker ban.
Zach Parston, national infrastructure leader at KPMG in Canada, said lifting the tanker ban would be a “helpful symbolic gesture” but it likely wouldn’t be “sufficient on its own to change investment calculus.”
“Ultimately, these projects need to continue to be de-risked,” said Parston.
“Things like corridor certainty, predictable permitting, support from local communities and Indigenous Nations and competitive investment climate are going to be critical to that decision to invest in pipelines in Canada.”
—with files from Global’s Jordan Armstrong and Amy Judd, and the Canadian Press