CALGARY – The company behind the Trans Mountain expansion says an unprecedented requirement to account for and offset greenhouse gas emissions for pipeline construction will add millions of dollars in costs to the $6.8-billion project.
But Ian Anderson, president of Kinder Morgan Canada, says he still welcomes the new condition because it gives the company a chance to reduce its environmental footprint.
Last week, the National Energy Board gave a conditional blessing to the project.
But along with it came a requirement that within four months of the pipeline’s startup, Kinder Morgan must account for the greenhouse gas emissions from its construction and present a plan outlining measures on how to reduce their net impact to zero.
Anderson says construction of the expanded pipeline is estimated to result in one million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
He says the company is working on an offset plan that could include planting trees to sequester carbon and buying emission credits from other parties, but it doesn’t yet have a cost estimate.
The NEB’s recommendation has been forwarded to Ottawa where cabinet is expected to make a final decision in December.
The Trans Mountain expansion between Edmonton and Burnaby, B.C., would nearly triple the existing crude oil pipeline’s capacity to 890,000 barrels per day.
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