Canada Gives Pacific Link Pipeline National Interest Designation
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced that the Pacific Link pipeline project has received national interest designation under the Building Canada Act. This means that the project will be streamlined with simplified rules, timelines, and oversight to help make it a reality.
The Pacific Link pipeline is estimated to cost between $35 billion and $44 billion and would carry upwards of one million barrels of crude oil per day from Bruderheim, Alta., to a port near Delta, B.C. The project aims to reduce Canada's dependence on the US market and increase exports to growing markets in Asia.
Carney stated that the pipeline is 'part of our mission to transform our economy to double our non-U.S. exports over the next decade.' He also mentioned that 90% of Alberta's oil currently goes to the US, and that Pacific Link would 'materially reduce that dependence' by allowing Canada to export an additional one million barrels a day to Asia.
The pipeline has been welcomed by industry as it streamlines the regulatory process, rolls back environmental policies, and beefs up tax incentives for new investments. However, Greenpeace Canada criticized the project, stating that Carney is 'moving quickly to bulldoze the country's environmental laws and Indigenous rights.'