TransCanada says the final Energy East pipeline route will be finalized after assessing input from stakeholders, including First Nation and Métis communities, landowners, local communities and provincial and federal governments. Photo: TransCanada.
Energy East pipeline report commissioned by TransCanada predicts economic benefits for most Canadian provinces
A new study says the proposed Energy East pipeline from Alberta to New Brunswick will provide billions of dollars in benefits for the Canadian economy.
The $12 billion pipeline will pass through six provinces, which proponent TransCanada Corp. says will all receive significant benefits from job creation, economic growth and increased tax revenues over the next 40 years.
TransCanada estimates the Energy East pipeline will generate an $10 billion in additional GDP for the Canadian economy during the six-year development and construction phase and $25.3 billion during the 40-year operations phase, as well as more than 10,000 full-time jobs between 2013 and 2018 and another 1,000 full-time jobs once once it is service. Half the jobs created in the development and construction phase will be in the construction, engineering, architectural and oil and gas support services industries, while half the jobs in the operations phase will be in the oil and natural gas pipelines and power generation and transmission industries.
The Energy East pipeline is estimated to generate an additional $10 billion in tax revenues for all levels of government over the life of the project.
TransCanada CEO Russ Girling is optimistic Energy East pipeline will be supported by Eastern Canadians. Photo: TransCanada.
“Energy East is a critical infrastructure project for all Canadians because it will enhance our country’s energy security, allow us to receive greater value for our important natural resources and will create tangible economic benefits for communities across the country,” said TransCanada CEO Russ Girling.
Girling said the Energy East pipeline is an excellent example of how Canada’s oil and gas sector is truly a national industry.
“Energy East will create business opportunities and economic spin-offs that ripple across virtually all areas of the economy and support the livelihoods of millions of Canadians,” he said.
Environmental groups were quick to criticize the study. Greenpeace campaigner Mike Hudema says the issue is about what kind of economy Canadians really want.
“We would create more jobs and build a better economy if we spent $12 billion on public transit and greener vehicles that reduce our oil consumption, rather than on building a pipeline that fuels climate change by deepening the world’s addiction to dirty oil,” he said in a statement.
The World Wildlife Fund says it is concerned to see another pipeline project announced in the absence of a national energy strategy that takes climate change into account.
“We know that in order to avoid the worst effects of global warming, we must take steps now to move away from a reliance on fossil fuels,” said Marie-Claude Lemieux, regional director for Quebec at WWF-Canada. “Yet all of these projects will continue to lock us in to a carbon-based economy for a long time to come.”
Beacon reader Bob Knight of Calgary says the Energy East pipeline is exactly what Canada needs.
“I totally support this,” he said “It is exactly what critics of the way the industry works have asked for, spreading the benefits of Alberta oil across the country, secondary processing here, less dependence on an increasingly undependable American market.”
Dave Noelle of Medicine Hat says that by rejecting the Energy East pipeline the environmental movement has shown themselves to be “hypocrites saturated in self interest.”
“Why does the ‘green’ choice involve shipping foreign oil across the ocean with military escort, propping up corrupt regimes, and piping the oil west, yet AB piping their oil east is ‘dirty?’” he said.
The Energy East pipeline will transport 1.1. million barrels of crude oil a day, with 900,000 barrels coming from Western Canada, to Eastern Canadian refineries, which currently import more than 700,000 barrels a day (or 86 per cent of their daily needs) from more expensive overseas sources including Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Venezuela and Algeria, according to TransCanada.
The The Energy East pipeline project involves converting a portion of natural gas pipeline capacity in approximately 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles) of TransCanada’s existing Canadian Mainline to crude oil service and constructing approximately 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) of new pipeline.
The Energy East pipeline will transport crude oil from Alberta and Saskatchewan to delivery points in Montreal, the Quebec City region and Saint John, New Brunswick. The pipeline will access a marine terminal in Quebec and a terminal at Canaport in Saint John, New Brunswick where TransCanada and Irving Oil have formed a joint venture to build, own and operate a new deep-water marine terminal.
The Deloitte & Touche LLP report was commissioned by TransCanada. Projections were generated using Statistics Canada’s Input/Output model, which measures direct, indirect and induced economic effects of large industrial projects and activities in Canada.
TransCanada says the Energy East pipeline is expected to be in service by late-2017 for deliveries in Quebec and 2018 for deliveries to New Brunswick.
TransCanada says it is already engaging with Aboriginal and stakeholder groups as part of its initial design and planning work for the project. The company expects to proceed with the necessary regulatory applications for approvals to construct and operate the pipeline project and terminal facilities in early 2014.
“Gathering input and answering questions people have about Energy East is a fundamental first step in our project development process,” Girling said.
GDP impact of project by province (2013 $Millions)
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Development & Construction Phase Operations Phase
(6 years) (40 years) Combined
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Ontario 2,694 10,335 13,029
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Alberta 1,742 6,128 7,870
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Quebec 3,114 3,236 6,350
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New Brunswick 1,170 1,629 2,799
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Saskatchewan 577 1,980 2,557
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Manitoba 361 1,446 1,807
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British Columbia 244 396 640
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Others 144 147 291
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Total 10,046 25,297 35,343
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