The BC government revealed some vague and some specific demands Monday regarding the Northern Gateway Pipeline.
Victoria could enforce more than 60 provincial regulations on Enbridge, as well as applying BC Hydro power rates and First Nations allegiances, should the pipeline company not live up to the terms of Monday's 56-page position paper released by Environment Minister Terry Lake, Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation Minister Mary Polak, and a team of senior government officials.
Lake took the lead in the conversation, spelling out five specific conditions.
"These five areas must be addressed by our partner governments and Enbridge before British Columbia would consider supporting the project," said BC Minister of Environment Terry Lake.
The summarized five categories are:
- Passing the standard environmental review process including National Energy Board approval;
- Set a new world standard for marine oil spill prevention, response and recovery;
- Set a new world standard for terrestrial oil spill prevention, response and recovery;
- Set a new standard, above the legal minimums, for First Nations consultations and benefits;
- Give BC taxpayers a fair share of the project's financial benefits, and reflective of the project's risks.
Lake said the details of these general conditions had not been set, but would have to be negotiated by the federal government, which holds most of the power over this oil pipeline proposal, Enbridge and the affected local governments (including First Nations) in its path.
He was firm, however, that Enbridge money was expected up front, to cover the costs of the hypothetical inevitable oil spill. In such events, the provincial government's emergency response systems are compelled into action and he did not want the taxpayer on the hook.
"We have a 'polluter pay' principle in British Columbia, but we recognize the need to strengthen the principle - that companies see it as an investment, but if spills occur to do a proper cleanup and remediation," said Lake. "That should not fall on the taxpayer."
When asked if Enbridge and the other private sector companies should post a sizable down payment, available for immediate use should a spill occur, and that the principal be held in trust, he said such an idea was interesting but had not taken formal shape.
Some northern B.C. residents have suggested that such a nest-egg be held in a foundation account, but if the entrusted money isn't needed to clean up a spill, the interest could be used to fund community initiatives. Lake thought the suggestion interesting that the proposed fund be held by a not-for-profit development agency, such as the Nechako-Kitimaat Development Fund, the Fraser Basin Council or Northern Development Initiative Trust.
Lake added that the "industry-funded model" was already in a sort of use. Pipeline company Kinder Morgan pays an entry fee where its pipeline cross the BC border into Washington State.
Kinder Morgan is another company that wants to install more petroleum pipelines in BC, and Lake said the standards applied to Enbridge would be applied to Kinder Morgan as well.
When asked if the posing of conditions wasn't in itself an admission of overall support, Lake said no.
"These are the principals upon which we will negotiate," he said. "These are the minimum requirements before we consider any new pipeline proposal ... This isn't a tacit approval of the project."
Various officials from the affected ministries added that indeed no terms had been set for how much money should be in the oil spill response fund, whom should pay into it, or when formal negotiations on these issues would begin.
Much must still be learned said the ministers and the panel of senior staff, from the ongoing public consultation process, the science of the environmental review process, and the incomplete consultations with First Nations.
Those who support or oppose the project prior to these tasks being finished are speaking from a less than informed position, the minister argued.
"This is an iterative process," Lake said. "We should not and we will not prejudge the process."
