Prime Minister Mark Carney is keeping B.C.’s North Coast tanker ban firmly in place, shutting the door on an Alberta oil pipeline to the province’s northern coast.
“The Canada-B.C. agreement will maintain the federal North Coast tanker ban in accordance with a proposed route of a new trans-provincial pipeline under the bilateral agreement with Canada and Alberta,” Carney told reporters Thursday.
“We secured a commitment to keep the northern tanker ban in place, protecting B.C.’s northern coast and its $2-billion-plus economy,” Premier David Eby said.
The 2019 tanker ban faced renewed scrutiny after Ottawa and Alberta signed a pipeline MOU in November.
The MOU’s flagship proposal is a bitumen pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast, capable of carrying up to an additional 400,000 barrels per day to Asian markets.
