TransCanada Corp.’s Cdn$ 11 billion Energy East pipeline project has run into another stumbling block in Quebec as public opposition mounts over a possible threat to the endangered beluga whales in the St. Lawrence River.
The Calgary-based pipeline company is still awaiting provincial government permission to continue its exploratory and drilling work on a planned export terminal at Cacouna, a key calving site for the belugas, despite the lifting of a temporary court injunction on 15 October.
TransCanada had a work timetable it wanted to complete before the ice forms on the river.
The Energy East project involves the conversion of a natural- gas pipeline, as well as construction of a new line through Quebec and New Brunswick, to carry 1.1 million bpd of Western Canadian crude to refineries and export facilities in the two provinces.
The marine terminal would allow the company to export oil transported from the Alberta oilsands as part of its Energy East pipeline project, which has been submitted to the National Energy Board.
TransCanada has argued it had all the proper permits and was sensitive to the belugas in the area.
Edited from various sources by Elizabeth Corner
Sources: The Globe and Mail, CBC