Week 7 - Pipelines and Politics
Objectives: discuss TMX pipeline extension and its environmental implications, describe
different types of policy mechanisms that are used by governments and how they work (with
examples), discuss federal carbon tax and renewable heating incentive
GHG emissions - the unit that we use is: carbon dioxide equivalent
What is carbon dioxide equivalent?
● a measurement used to compare the emissions from different greenhouse gases,
converting all of these different gas molecules to a co2 equivalent.
● all of these GHGs release heat back into the atmosphere - water vapour, methane, co2,
nitrogen, etc.
● MMTCD = million metric tones of a gas * global warming potential of the gas
● We compare it to co2 because carbon dioxide is measured as 1 unit of GWP. For
example, methane is 28 GWP, 28 times greater than one molecule of co2, and nitrous
oxide is 265 GWP
○ we focus on co2 because these other emissions are much less abundant, and we
are not doing much that is emitting SF6 for example
○ sheer abundance of co2, we do a lot that emits co2
GHG emissions in Canada - Data from government is updated until 2022
● middle of the graph, 2005, is the base year for Canada’s GHG emissions reduction
target, likely because there is a consistent increase up until 2005
● later in 2020/2021 pandemic there is a small decrease in GHG emissions
● values overall from 2005 - 2022, there was a noticeable decrease likely from cap and
trade, but there is still a lot compared to 1990 because of personal vehicles,
consumerism, industrialization
The Oil and Gas Sector
● COVID usually throws the data off
● oil and gas are 27%, and transportation are 24%
Alberta produces the most crude oil in Canada
● crude oil (petroleum, unrefined oil, nonrenewable) relatively close to the surface mixed
with sand (oil sands)
○ mixture of combustible hydrocarbons and some impurities
■ the hydrocarbon component is the material that is fossilized and used as
energy
○ recovery
○ refining
■ after it’s extracted, we have to refine it so separate different
petrochemicals by distillation
○ transport
■ truck, ship, pipelines
● 96% of crude oil production is sent to the US (this is likely going to change because of
the recent trade war discussions, and think of the TMX where the incentive was to
increase our international trade)
● 96% of Canada’s proven reserves are from the oil sands
● proven reserves - is it going to be worth time and investment for actually extracting the
oil? You have to have a high probability of profit. These are mostly oil sands
The Oil Sands produce a lot of GHGs
● extraction is economically expensive
● environmentally expensive too: up to 3.6 times as much GHGs as conventional oil and
gas production
● creates huge tailings ponds - the method of actually storing it
Heavy Oils from oil sands (unconventional oil)
● Oil sands
○ clay, sand, water, bitumen (the actual oil)
● Bitumen
○ high viscosity, thick heavy oil with high sulfur content
● Unconventional oil is oil that needs to extracted
● Oil sands supply 50% of Canada’s current oil needs
Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage
● carbon capture is: trying to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
● Captures CO2 is compressed and transported, and we might be able to use it in some
way, or inject it into the ground to feed it back into the earth
○ mimicking what trees do
Intervention: Carbon Sequestration
● we are removing carbon when we take oil, coal, and injecting it back could help
● Another way is that they are filtering the CO2, combining it with different minerals, and
then storing it underground (turning it into
Oil and gas emissions cap
● the government spent a lot of money on the pipeline, but they are also
● less oil is going to be moving and less jobs related to this
Trans Mountain Expansion
● the blueline represents the new pipeline
● National energy board - the project has to be approved by them
● government of canada - then has to go through the government
● the canadian public - then there is input from the public
More on National Energy Board (NEB)
● A project needs to be reviewed by them
● an independent federal regulator, meaning it is not influenced by any government in
Canada
● job is to assess the project and decide if it is good for the public and economically worth
it
● Conducting a pre-construction caribou habitat assessment and restoration plan
● Archaeological and cultural heritage assessment
● Light Emissions Management Plan for the Westridge Marine Terminal
● Plan for marine spill prevention and response commitments, as a lot of ships will start to
dock
Potential exam question: What was the main reason the Canadian government justified buying
the pipeline? - To protect the economy
Federal Government
● promised that any money they are making from the pipeline will go towards working
towards clean energy transition
NEB assessment was deemed flawed
● failure to consult with indigenous communities properly
● failure to properly assess the impact of increased marine traffic (orca population
interruption)
News in Nov. 2023
● The Canadian Energy Regulator ordered the project to stop in a wetland area near
Abbotsford, BC, after inspectors found several environmental and safety related non
compliances
○ insufficient fencing to protect amphibians, there are species at risk and we don’t
want them to cross into a construction zone
○ unapproved vegetation clearing, sometimes it is easier for them to pay the fine
for clearing vegetation than not clearing it
○ in 2021: four month shutdown to protect hummingbird nests along a one km
section of its route
Environmental legislation can have serious effects
● Recall: What was the renewable heating incentive? What went wrong with it?
○ incentive from the northern Irish government paid people to not use natural gas,
and use renewable energy for heating
○ people figured out that you can make money with this incentive and it backfired
● How can major economies have different definitions of renewable energy?
○ different definitions of what counts as a renewable source