OTTAWA — The federal New Democratic Party plans to table a bill this autumn that would pressure oil and gas companies to find ways to add value to crude oil before exporting it overseas.

The three-pronged bill will include a provision banning large crude oil tankers on B.C.’s north coast, and would require the National Energy Board to give greater weight to the public’s views before approving major projects.

“This is going to change the conversation about oil politics in Canada,” B.C. MP Nathan Cullen, the bill’s sponsor, told The Vancouver Sun on Monday.

The MP said he is confident that some Conservative backbenchers in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s pro-industry majority government, along with the Liberals, will support the bill.

A legislated oil tanker ban would go much further than the non-binding anti-tanker motion, also sponsored by Cullen, that was passed in the House of Commons in 2010 over the objections of the minority Conservative government.

If passed, the new legislation would be bad news for the proponents of two projects to export raw diluted bitumen crude to Asian refineries via B.C. ports — Kinder Morgan Canada and Enbridge Inc.

But the NDP’s initiative would provide at the very least a morale and public relations boost for the proponents of two other B.C. projects.

Vancouver-based Pacific Future Energy Corp., with the backing of former Conservative cabinet minister Stockwell Day, wants to build a $10-billion oilsands refinery near Prince Rupert.

B.C. newspaper publisher David Black, meanwhile, is promoting a $16-billion refinery in Kitimat.

Both projects are touted as value-added initiatives because they would export refined products like gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, and kerosene — products that are relatively easier to deal with in the event of a major spill than heavy crude.

Neither project would be impacted by a ban that specifically targets crude oil supertankers.

But Cullen said both those projects would still have to meet the need to obtain public buy-in as well as support from First Nations.

Neither proponent, he said, will find it easy to win social license given that both projects require the transportation of diluted bitumen feedstock from Alberta across B.C. territory to create their refined projects.

Cullen said his bill’s push for more refineries in Canada would be popular among unionized workers in Alberta, where the party’s MPs are gathering this week to plan strategy in advance of the fall House of Commons sitting that begins next Monday.

“This is really a jobs bill.”

He said the bill would also provide greater certainty by making it clear that companies can’t impose projects without a social license given by supportive members of the public, First Nations and provincial governments.

“Uncertainty is a breeding ground for conflict,” he said.

Some in the energy industry have argued that constructing refineries in Canada isn’t economic, especially given that there are huge refineries in Asia willing to take diluted bitumen crude from Canada to turn into refined products.

“Yes, there are (chief executives of) multinationals who think it is in their interest to upgrade elsewhere. But it’s not the Canadian interest,” Cullen said.

The MP said a three-person NEB panel that urged the federal government last year to conditionally approve the $7.9-billion Northern Gateway project to Kitimat effectively ignored the overwhelmingly negative opinion of area residents and First Nations.

“It will be more difficult (if the bill passes) to get permission from the regulator if you have not demonstrated you have social license.”

poneil@postmedia.com

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