Notley to deliver 'best Alberta case' for Energy East to federal cabinet in Kananaskis

Premier Rachel Notley says she aims to ensure the "best Alberta case" for the Energy East pipeline is put before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet when she meets with top federal officials in Kananaskis this weekend.

The pipeline proposal, which would carry bitumen from Alberta to the East Coast, is currently the subject of a National Energy Board review.

The federal government has been cautious about speaking in favour or against the proposal while the NEB process is underway, but Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr has emphasized that the final decision rests with cabinet.

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Well aware of that, Notley said she plans to make the case for pipelines when she has private meetings with Trudeau and his cabinet at a mountain retreat in southwestern Alberta over the weekend.

"When that decision finally lands at the federal cabinet table – which it will – I want to make sure that not just the prime minister but as many cabinet ministers as possible understand the economic importance of these pipelines, not only to Alberta, but to downtown Toronto and to Gander, Nfld., and to Nanaimo, B.C.," Notley told CBC News.

"And so, when they do go about making that decision, they'll do so with the best Alberta case in front of them."

Climate change leadership

The premier also said she plans to emphasize the steps the Alberta government has taken to limit greenhouse gas emissions while continuing to develop the province's oilsands.

"Most people don't understand the breadth and the depth of the shift that our government has brought into place here," Notley said.

Alberta's climate change measures include an annual carbon dioxide emissions cap of 100 megatonnes on oilsands operations and an economy wide carbon tax of $20 per tonne that kicks in on Jan. 1, 2017, escalating to $30 per tonne on Jan. 1, 2018.

"I think the Government of Canada appreciates the good work that we've done with respect to our climate change policy and I'm hopeful that they're starting to see the importance of the need for energy infrastructure," Notley said.

Meetings with B.C. government

Notley also said meetings continue between her government and its counterpart in British Columbia over the possibility of an agreement that would see Alberta agree to purchase hydro power from its western neighbour in exchange for facilitation of a pipeline to the Pacific.

"I'm going to meet with my colleagues both to the east and to the west to ensure that we're able to work through whatever barriers might exist," she said.

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Notley downplayed how far along that possible deal is, however, saying the talks are preliminary and no timeline is yet in place.

She also said her earlier concerns with the proposed Northen Gateway pipeline remain in place, but she's keeping an "open mind" about the project, despite speaking in opposition to it in the past.

"Northern Gateway faces the largest barriers and at the time it seemed like it was not possible for those barriers to be overcome," Notley said.

"Many of those conditions and issues still exist. It's up to the proponent that they can address them and, there's no question … they're working diligently on that."

Northern Gateway has conditional NEB approval but has encountered fierce opposition from people in British Columbia concerned about potential environmental impacts both along the pipeline route and from tanker traffic travelling in and out of the port at Kitimat, B.C.

Notley said the proposed expansion of Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline offers another opportunity, probably a stronger one, for getting Alberta oil products to tide water.

"In my view, I think the Kinder Morgan pipeline is the most likely route to be approved in B.C. at this particular point in time," she said.

"And so I'm going to continue to talk to the government in B.C. about what might be in place to allow us to move forward on that."