Opposition Won't Slow Gateway Pipeline Project: Enbridge

PETER KENNEDY
Globe and Mail
July 28, 2006

VANCOUVER -- Enbridge Pipelines Inc. is committed to meeting its targets for the $4-billion Gateway pipeline, despite speculation in a CIBC World Markets report that it could be delayed by opposition from aboriginal groups, said company president Art Meyer.

"We would expect to see the project approved towards the end of 2007 with construction able to start in 2008," Mr. Meyer told reporters after making a speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade yesterday.

By 2010, if the approval process goes according to plan, Enbridge Pipelines expects to begin moving oil from the Athabasca basin in Alberta along a 1,200-kilometre corridor stretching across northern British Columbia to the deep water port of Kitimat. Enbridge Pipelines is an operating subsidiary of Enbridge Inc. of Calgary.

However, in a report released yesterday, CIBC World Markets analyst Matthew Akman expressed doubt that those targets will be met. "Our view has been that Gateway could be delayed," he said. Mr. Akman attributed his view to the fact that there are 42 first nations groups along the Gateway route, including seven which he said have issues with the federal government's approval process.

"In this context, we believe Enbridge may find it more financially rewarding to expand its existing system instead," he said.

Mr. Akman's comments come just weeks after the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, whose land covers about one-third of the Gateway route in B.C., said it may try to block the proposed pipeline because of the "very limited" benefits that it would provide to them.

The council, which represents 5,700 people, said in a report that the impact of the pipeline on the environment and small communities "will likely be unacceptable."

Yesterday, Enbridge reacted to those concerns by announcing plans to donate $200,000 over the next two years to create a national Chair in Aboriginal Economic Development at the University of Victoria.

In his speech yesterday, Mr. Meyer also played up the benefits of the Gateway project.

"During construction, we currently estimate the Gateway project will generate approximately $2-billion in direct and indirect labour income in British Columbia and Alberta combined," he said.

The project requires a $200-million marine terminal to be built in Kitimat and will provide jobs for five thousand people during the construction.

Municipalities in B.C. and Alberta will also benefit from over $25-million a year in property taxes, he said.

Despite the opposition, Enbridge has stated its intention to finalize commercial agreements by the end of second quarter of 2006, and then file with the National Energy Board.

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