The provincial government won't begin to negotiate directly with oil pipeline proponents surrounding possible economic benefits until other safety and social conditions are met.
During a news conference in Vancouver on Tuesday, Premier Christy Clark and her Alberta counterpart Alison Redford announced that they'd reached a framework to proceed with future discussions about new pipelines, like Northern Gateway, to ship Alberta oilsands products through B.C. for west coast export. Redford said her province will support B.C. in its attempt to get its five conditions met, while Clark said B.C. will join the Redford-led national energy strategy.
Part of the deal is that to satisfy its fifth condition surrounding appropriate economic benefits, B.C. will negotiate directly with industry rather than the government of Alberta. But those talks won't happen for any particular project until the four other conditions have been satisfied.
"I always said from the very beginning there are a whole host of different possibilities [for economic benefits]," Clark said. "For example, people have talked about a refinery in British Columbia, that could be 3,000 jobs and lot of potential tax revenue for the people of the province."
Another option would include some sort of toll or tax on oil transported through B.C. or put on export ships. Both premiers were clear that any revenue would not come from Alberta's oil royalty revenue.
Northern Gateway is seeking to build a pipeline from northern Alberta to Kitimat and is awaiting an environmental assessment report expected next month.
Clark's government had appeared to be skeptical about new oil pipelines in the past, but on Tuesday she likened their construction to the pro-development platform her party ran on during the spring election. Both Clark and Redford expressed optimism about the progress made so far and the work being done by an inter-provincial working group examining energy transportation issues.
NDP leader Adrian Dix said government has changed its tone in recent months, from signaling a firm stance on protecting the environment to being open for business for new pipelines.
"What the Premier had to say before the election was simply designed to get her through the election and was misleading on an issue of fundamental importance for British Columbia," he said. "When the Premier said [Tuesday], 'my position has never changed' if you don't count the previous eight changes that's true."
Clark isn't wavering from the five conditions her government announced last summer. Any new pipelines must pass an environmental review, must meet world-class standards for marine and terrestrial spill response, must have had adequate consultation with First Nations and must provide an economic benefit to B.C.
"I think in all five areas we're seeing progress," Redford said. "That doesn't mean we snap our fingers overnight and it's done, but we're making good progress all the way along and that's important."
NDP environment critic Spencer Chandra Hebert questioned whether or not the conditions are any closer to being met. He pointed to the environmental concerns the provincial government itself raised in its final argument to the National Energy Board's Joint Review Panel and noted none of those issues have been publicly addressed.
"They seem to believe we're getting close to eyes on the government's five conditions, when anybody who has observed the maneuverings will see we've made no difference when it comes to oil spill response," he said. "The government still has no understanding of how diluted bitumen would actually effect a marine environment let alone a river environment."
Clark said she believes the five conditions can be satisfied for oil pipelines - although she didn't specify if she was talking about Northern Gateway specifically or other projects like Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline. However, she said the process the province has put in place is appropriate.
"I believe that the five conditions, when they are satisfied, will go a long way to satisfying a lot of peoples' concerns about the project, as proposed," she said.
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