Federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says the Harper government is spending taxpayer dollars to subsidize environmental and meteorological studies for Enbridge’s proposed $6-billion Northern Gateway project.

But the federal government shot back Wednesday saying its plan to spend $120 million on oil tanker safety studies on Canada’s coastlines was announced in March in Vancouver.

article continues below

The controversial oil pipeline proposed by Calgary-based Enbridge would deliver diluted bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands to a port at Kitimat, where it would be loaded onto tankers for delivery to Asia.

May and Oak Bay-Gordon Head Green MLA Andrew Weaver released documents that they say show the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is running a so-called “Northern Gateway Project” to research what happens to diluted bitumen in an oil spill — essentially subsidizing research Enbridge failed to do to satisfy the province, the Greens said.

Meanwhile, Environment Canada is spending tens of millions to enhance navigational meteorological reports for the route from Kitimat and through Hecate Strait, specifically for supertankers carrying oil, May said. Combined, that’s more than $100 million in taxpayer dollars to do industry-based research, Weaver said.

The documents belie Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s statements that he will not make decisions about Enbridge’s proposal before it is reviewed by the Joint Review Panel, May said.

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver rejected the Greens’ accusations.

“Elizabeth May needs to check her sources,” Oliver said Wednesday in an emailed statement.

“This ‘leak’ was publicly announced … in Vancouver last March. Work on tanker safety is critical to ensure we have world-class marine safety on Canada’s coastlines. While the Green Party and the NDP oppose resource development projects before the science is in, our government will not make decisions until an independent, scientific review determines they are safe for Canadians and safe for the environment.”

Oliver’s statement referred to an announcement about the creation of a “world-class tanker safety system” with the implementation of eight measures, including expanded research on non-conventional petroleum products such as diluted bitumen and designation of more ports — including Kitimat — for traffic-control measures.

The announcement also included introduction of the Safeguarding Canada’s Seas and Skies Act and the creation of a Tanker Safety Expert Panel.

But the Green party leader said she and Weaver analyzed that “regulatory” announcement and found no detail or accounting that suggested the start of improved weather forecasting on the Hecate Strait in the anticipation that supertankers full of bitumen would be approved.

“None of that was in the announcement they made in Vancouver,” May said. “The reason these documents are newsworthy [is that] this is not information that was put before the Canadian public. Nor was it in budget 2013 or budget 2012 that there was $78 million to be spent in 2013 and 2014 on federal government programs specifically related to the Enbridge project. This was never announced.”

The Joint Review Panel, conducted by the National Energy Board and Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, is expected to submit its recommendations to the Minister of Natural Resources by Dec. 31.

The Greens insist, however, the prime minister is pushing ahead without the panel results.

The federal government’s economic action plan 2013 proposes $248 million over five years to Environment Canada to revitalize Canada’s weather services.

“Nowhere in the budget does it suggest that the priority for meteorological services in Canada is for a tanker route that’s currently not used and that most British Columbians never want to see ever used,” May said.

In June, the provincial government rejected the $6-billion Enbridge Northern Gateway oil pipeline proposal, saying the company plans do not adequately address B.C.’s concerns about environmental damage.

charnett@timescolonist.com