Why Will the TransMountain Pipeline Expansion Get Built? Because it Will

摘要

Forget all the common-sense reasons for starting and completing the TransMountain Expansion Project (TMEP). Forget that construction of the pipeline will start on September 17, 2017; that it will cost $7.4 billion to complete over two years; that 89 per cent of the pipeline will be built on existing rights of way or along already existing infrastructure; that revenue to Alberta and British Columbia will total about $25 billion, including construction and the first 20 years of tolls; that it makes economic sense to build a pipeline to tidewater, to diversify our customer base; that construction of the pipeline expansion will take 2800 tanker trucks or almost 900 railcars per day out of circulation; that taking those alternative forms of petroleum transport off the books makes life infinitely safer for both people and the natural environment.