Media Advisory - Hearings into Keystone pipeline resume
CALGARY, June 4 /CNW Telbec/ - Phase 2 of hearings into the Keystone
Pipeline proposal -- plans by TransCanada Pipelines to export 500,000 barrels
of raw bitumen a day from Alberta's tar sands to the mid-west United States --
open today here before the National Energy Board. Phase 2 deals with a TCPL
application to build an extension to its existing pipeline in southern
Manitoba. Phase 1 hearings dealt with a TCPL application to convert the
existing pipeline from gas to crude oil transportation. A decision on that
application is still pending.
First at today's hearings is a motion to subpoena Conoco Phillips, the
multi-national oil giant and partner with TCPL in the Keystone project. Conoco
has been subpoenaed by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of
Canada to provide details of its plans.
CEP opposes the Keystone project primarily on the grounds that it goes
against Canadian public interest economically and environmentally. CEP
studies, already submitted to the NEB, show that upwards of 18,000 jobs could
be created if the bitumen to be shipped through Keystone were processed in
Canada instead of in the U.S.
CEP and the Alberta Federation of Labour are also expected to
cross-examine TCPL officials before the NEB. Hearings will continue all week
and updates will appear on the CEP website: www.cep.ca.
