Reaction as TransCanada cancels Energy East pipeline project

TransCanada has canceled its Energy East pipeline project.

“Today is a great day for the climate and the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who stood up to Energy East and its risks to our land, water and communities,” said Andrea Harden-Donahue, energy and climate justice campaigner for the Council of Canadians.

The pipeline would have shipped about 1.1 million barrels of oil per day from Western Canada to the Atlantic coast.

In a statement, TransCanada CEO Russ Girling said the decision came "after careful review of changed circumstances. Girling did not detail the review or the reasons for the decision, but oil prices are about half of what they were when TransCanada announced the project in 2013.

And the pipeline proposal encountered stiff opposition from environmentalists.

The pipeline would have put more than 5 million Canadians drinking water at risk including in Winnipeg, North Bay, Ottawa, Montreal and Saint John, a key factor in strong and growing opposition.

More than 700 people joined the ‘March to the end of the Energy East (Pipe)Line’ demonstrating their opposition to the project.

“We witnessed a people’s Intervention that forced the climate costs of Energy East to the forefront of the pipeline review,” said Aurore Fauret, tar sands campaign coordinator for the environmental group 350.org. “Over 100,000 messages were sent to the National Energy Board demanding it consider all the emissions the project would generate. Close to 2,000 people applied as intervenors, citing climate change as one of their reasons. Two years later, after the NEB accepted to review the climate costs of the pipeline, TransCanada is calling it quits. Other tar sands pipelines like Kinder Morgan aren’t being subjected to a climate test and Trudeau’s government needs to change that.”

More reaction… 

“Both the Northern Gateway fight and this Energy East one show that when First Nations stand together, supported by non-Indigenous allies, we win. “So that’s two tar sands expanding mega-pipelines stopped in their tracks but it will be a hollow victory if either Kinder Morgan, Line 3 or Keystone XL are allowed to steamroll over Indigenous opposition and serve as an outlet for even more climate-killing tar sands production.”

— Grand Chief Serge Simon of the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake on behalf of the 150 First Nations and Tribes who have signed the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion, vowing to work together to stop all tar sands expansion.

“The message from today’s cancellation of TransCanada’s proposed Energy East pipeline is loud and clear: new tar sands pipelines don’t make sense — economically or environmentally — in a world that is addressing climate change and moving away from fossil fuels." 

— Patrick DeRochie, climate & energy program manager with Environmental Defense. 

“Today, science finally wins, thanks to the relentless work of grassroot and environmental groups. The Québec population was clearly opposed to Energy East, we stopped the Cacouna port and are celebrating the end of the project.”

— Carole Dupuis, general coordinator of Regroupement vigilance hydrocarbures Québec, a network of 130 citizens groups in Québec.

“Energy East would have put my community, Red Head, at the end of the pipeline path at risk. The people of Red Head stood up to protect our health, the Bay of Fundy and the climate. It felt like David versus Goliath, and David won.”

—  Lynaya Astephen with the Red Head Anthony’s Cove Preservation Association.  

“Energy East is over now that we’re considering its toll on the climate, but Kinder Morgan and Line 3 didn’t get an extra review, despite the Trudeau government's promise to fix the broken process. For all of our sakes, Kinder Morgan, Line 3, Line 10 and Keystone XL tar sands pipelines must face the same fate.”

— Duncan Noble of Pipeline Awareness Renfrew County. 

"TransCanada’s decision to scrap the controversial East Energy pipeline is a huge victory for the First Nations, workers, and activists that have resisted this project for years. It’s a victory that’s to be shared by all of us who have stood up to reckless tar sands expansion and these senseless, dirty pipeline proposals. These tar sands pipelines across North America threaten our communities, our drinking water, Indigenous sovereignty and human rights, and our fight against climate change. Each of these proposed projects will continue to be met with strong criticism and peaceful resistance. 

This is the same company that wants to build the Keystone XL Pipeline that has ignited, yet again, opposition from people all over the country. It’s time TransCanada made the same announcement for Keystone XL and scrapped the project. TransCanada took a reported billion dollar hit on its plans for East Energy. Key investors in these projects like JPMorgan Chase should pay close attention and realize that funding these pipelines is a mistake. Not only do they potentially lose a lot of money, investors shouldn’t be associating themselves with projects that are ruining the environment, threatening human rights, and putting communities at risk."

— Diana Best, senior climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace USA.

TransCanada also is behind the Keystone XL pipeline.