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ENERGY: AFL says Premier will export oil sands jobs with second massive bitumen pipeline to the US |
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(AlbertaIndex, February 29, Friday) --- The Alberta Federation of Labour has accused Premier Ed Stelmach of exporting oil sands jobs to the US with the help of the National Energy Board (NEB) which last week approved the “controversial Alberta Clipper super pipeline.”
“The decision has serious - and very negative - long-term implications for Albertans,” said AFL president, Gil McGowan.
“This is the second major bitumen pipeline to be given approval by the NEB in the last six months. The Keystone pipeline was approved in September. A third pipeline called Southern Lights was approved earlier this week that will carry lubricant from Chicago up to Alberta. This lubricant is designed to make raw oil sands flow more easily down pipelines.
“Taken together, these three pipelines will provide the plumbing necessary to export about 1.4 million barrels of raw oil sands per day to refineries in the American mid-west and Gulf coast. That means that almost all of the expected increase in oil sands production between now and 2015 could be carried away in those pipes. But it won't be just raw bitumen going down those pipelines - we'll also be losing thousands of high-paying upgrader and refinery jobs.”
McGowan said he’s not particularly surprised that bureaucrats at the NEB approved the application from Enbridge Inc. to develop the Alberta Clipper. What does surprise him is Premier Ed Stelmach's apparent lack of interest in the issue.
“This is the guy who, when he was running for the Conservative leadership, said that allowing raw bitumen to be exported without first upgrading or refining it in Alberta was like ‘a farmer selling off his topsoil’,” said McGowan.
“He’s also the guy who in a recent Conservative television ad said very clearly that - and this is a direct quote from the Premier himself – ‘we’ll ensure our oil sands are upgraded right here.' So what's the deal, Ed? If you’re so dead set against sending Alberta jobs down the pipeline, why haven’t you even raised a finger to put restrictions on pipelines that everyone knows will do just that?”
McGowan said the AFL is not opposed to all new pipelines. What the AFL is opposed to are pipelines that will be used almost exclusively to transport raw bitumen - as opposed to upgraded crude or refined products like gasoline and diesel.
McGowan says that evidence presented in NEB hearings - which the Stelmach government didn't even bother to attend - clearly shows that the Keystone and Alberta Clipper pipelines will be nothing more than “bitumen super-highways.”
“Premier Stelmach has spewed a lot of rhetoric on this issue,” said McGowan. “But action speaks louder than words. And Stelmach's inaction on this issue speaks volumes about where he really stands. It’s clear that he’s simply not willing to stand up to Big Oil.
“These companies clearly have a plan to send massive amounts of unrefined bitumen to refineries and upgraders in the US. And, in the absence of any clear restrictions or regulations from the provincial government, that’s exactly what they're going to do.”
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