Oil Sands and Pipelines

Question 1

What is Bitumen?

Answer 1

thick, heavy oil, integrated with sand

Question 2

What are the two ways to extract bitumen?

Answer 2

• mining (remove forest and topsoil; dig; truck out)
• in situ (drill; pump steam underground to separate bitumen from sand; pump out)
• energy-intensive way to produce oil

Question 3

How does Suncor describe oil sands?

Answer 3

• an economic opportunity
• safe, efficient, responsible
  -supported by Indigenous peoples

Question 4

How do critics describe the oil sands?

Answer 4

• a source of pollution affecting ppl and wildlife
• landscape destruction
• a driver of climate change
• an example of environmental racism

Question 5

What are the distributional issues on oil sands?

Answer 5

Who gains from developing the oil sands?

Whose health is impacted by extracting and transporting bitumen?

Question 6

What are the procedural issues on oil sands?

Answer 6

What kinds of participation and barriers to participation are involved?

Are decision-makers transparent and free from conflicts of interest?

Question 7

What are the recognition issues on oil sands?

Answer 7

Are all values, priorities, and ways of life equally recognized?

Are Indigenous perspectives systematically excluded or devalued?

Question 8

How do pipeline disputes relate to oil sands?

Answer 8

Transporting products from the oil sands to markets involves new and modified pipelines

Question 9

What are some arguments for expanding pipelines?

Answer 9

Need to get oil sands products to markets
- Economic benefit argument

Everyone needs oil
- Energy access argument

Pipelines are safer than trains
- Safety argument based on inevitable expansion

Question 10

What are some arguments against expanding pipelines?

Answer 10

We can’t afford to burn more fossil fuels
- Climate change argument

Risk and potential impact of spills is too great
- Environment/health argument along pipeline

FN suffer from pollution in oil sands region
- Environment/health argument in Alberta

Indigenous people have a right to say no
- Indigenous self determination argument

Question 11

Why are pipelines controversial?

Answer 11

• provide jobs and profit, but ‘lock in’ emissions and come into tension with indigenous rights

Question 12

What makes Canada a major producer of oil and gas?

Answer 12

Canada produces oil and gas, increasingly from oil sands and hydraulic fracturing

Question 13

What are the two perspectives on the Trans Mountain Pipeline?

Answer 13

• Spatial politics
• Indigenous rights

Question 14

How are pipelines regulated in Canada?

Answer 14

• National Energy Board / Canadian Energy Regulator: evaluate energy projects that cross provincial or national borders
• projects within a province assessed by provincial boards
• NEB/CER holds hearings, recommends whether a project should proceed – and under what conditions
• govt gives final approval

Question 15

What was the Trans Mountain Expansion Project?

Answer 15

proposed to expand capacity of existing pipeline over 60 years old, and build second pipeline alongside it to transport diluted bitumen from Alberta to Burnaby, BC

Question 16

What was the media coverage on the Trans Mountain Project?

Answer 16

• called trans mountain “the people’s pipeline”
• suggested Canada’s economic well-being depends on Alberta oil and gas

Question 17

What was the regulator statements on the Trans Mountain Project?

Answer 17

• ack local impacts, distant benefits
• prio “economic benefits.. throughout Canada”

Question 18

What holds up arguments about the national interest?

Answer 18

Justifying pipelines depends on the idea of a unified Canada

But some people face concentrated impacts – especially Indigenous peoples

Saying pipelines serve the ‘national interest’ requires erasing these people from mind

Question 19

What were the provincial claims about scale and authority on the trans mountain project?

Answer 19

John Horgan, Premier of BC (2018):
- A spill would “hurt all British Columbians”

• Need to protect “Canada’s Pacific coast”
• Pledged to fight “for BC’s interests”
• “Ottawa has acted to take over the project”

Question 20

What were the municipal claims on the trans mountain project?

Answer 20

Derek Corrigan, mayor of Burnaby (2018):

“I’m embarrassed to see our Prime Minister kowtowing to an American oil giant”

“This has become ground zero for who is controlling our democratic institutions— is it thepeople of our country or is it the multinational corporations?”

Question 21

What were the indigenous claims on the trans mountain project?

Answer 21

Tiny House Warriors built small homes in the pipeline’s path

Challenged federal government’s authority to make decisions on unceded territory

Pipeline construction inconsistent with Indigenous and international law

Question 22

What are the key historical moments in Indigenous rights in Canada?

Answer 22

• Indian Act: created band council system; defined who is and who isn’t recognized as an Indian
• Residential schools: 150k children went through the system; estimated that 6k died
• Sixties scoop: est. 20k children taken from their families and adopted out to white families

Question 23

What are the Indigenous Rights in Canada?

Answer 23

• Treaties
• Right to vote: ~1960
• Constitutional rights: 1982
• Truth and Reconciliation: 2015 calls to action
• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP): free, prior and informed consent
• Natural law

Question 24

What leaders do Indigenous communities have?

Answer 24

Hereditary Chiefs (traditional governance, e.g. clan system)

Band Council Chiefs (elected to governing bodies created by the Indian Act)

• they dont always agree

Question 25

What was the federal court of appeal decision in 2018 on the trans mountain project?

Answer 25

• overturned pipeline approval over inadequate Indigenous consultation (and marine impacts)
• govt held more hearings, re-approved the project

Question 26

What are the key dimensions of energy justice related to Indigenous rights?

Answer 26

Distributional issues
- Risks to Indigenous lands, livelihoods, culture from construction, spills

Process issues
- Selective consultation with band councils

Recognition issues
- Indigenous rights, legal systems “erased”