Washington state leaders are warning that Canada’s decision to prioritize an oil pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia could have environmental consequences for the Pacific Northwest.
The pipeline would carry around 1 million barrels of oil a day to the British Columbia coast. The project, known as Pacific Link, is the first to be designated by Canada as being in the country’s national interest. The pipeline would bring oil to a new terminal south of Vancouver, British Columbia, that could accommodate large crude oil tankers for international shipping.
Gov. Bob Ferguson and Washington Department of Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller issued a joint news release Friday saying that prioritizing the project would fast-track it and limit environmental review.
The two leaders warned it would bring more tankers carrying crude oil to the Salish Sea, which straddles the U.S.-Canada border, without a plan to respond to the possibility of catastrophic spills.
“Such a spill would pose an existential threat to the Southern Resident Killer Whales, to the unique ecosystems of the Salish Sea, and to the Tribal and First Nations communities that depend on these marine resources,” the two wrote in the joint statement.
Ferguson and Sixkiller said Canada needs to do more to ensure environmental stewardship of the two countries shared waters.
“Washington State has worked for decades to ensure that we are ready to respond to a major oil spill on either side of the border,” their statement said. “These existing resources would be insufficient in the face of this scale of expansion.”
The pipeline would reduce Canada’s dependence on U.S. trade and oil infrastructure. About 90% of Canadian oil is exported to the U.S. The pipeline could allow that oil to be sold in new markets in Asia.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the pipeline would also create 140,000 jobs across the country and bring in about $100 billion in government revenue by 2060.
“Canada has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to become a global energy superpower,” Carney said in a news release Thursday. “To create hundreds of thousands of good jobs. To transform our economy. To diversify our trade. To become less reliant on a single trade partner.”
Carney said the goal is to complete the pipeline review process to clear the way for groundbreaking by September 2027.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.