FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 31, 2020

CONTACT:

Hannah McKinnon, hannah [at] priceofoil.org

Collin Rees, collin [at] priceofoil.org

Oil Change International response to Keystone XL subsidy announcement from Alberta

Today, the Government of Alberta announced that it would support TC Energy’s Keystone XL oil pipeline with a direct investment of more than USD 1 billion and a further USD 4.2 billion loan guarantee. In response, experts at Oil Change International released the following statements:

Hannah McKinnon, Energy Transitions & Futures Director:

“Never has there been a more critical moment to support health, workers, and communities. Instead, the Alberta Government is diverting limited and desperately needed public money to Big Oil in the latest misplaced attempt to revive the Keystone XL pipeline and prop up a sector that has no role in a more resilient, safer climate future.

“The Keystone XL pipeline was a non-starter a decade ago and it remains one today. With trillions of dollars at play globally in relief and recovery, we have an unprecedented chance to invest in the future, not the past. Unfortunately, the Alberta Government is still refusing to see the writing on the wall, a failure that comes at a huge cost to Albertans in this crisis moment.”

Collin Rees, Senior U.S. Campaigner:

“This desperate attempt by Alberta’s Government to push through the failing Keystone XL pipeline during a global pandemic is beyond the pale. We need billions of public dollars invested directly in vulnerable communities dying from COVID-19, not spent propping up massive oil companies and unneeded projects that would trample Indigenous rights and exacerbate the climate crisis.

“This huge giveaway of public money to fossil fuel executives coming just days after Jason Kenney’s government laid off more than 20,000 educational workers across Alberta says more about where his priorities lie than we ever could. The Indigenous communities, farmers, and ranchers along the Keystone XL route will continue to fiercely resist, and this pipeline will never be built.”

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Notes:

This weekend, Premier Jason Kenney’s Alberta Government drastically cut educational funding across the province, laying off more than 20,000 Albertan workers: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/funding-reduction-alberta-k-12-covid-1.5513803

Oil Change International response to recent Export Development Canada changes: http://priceofoil.org/2020/03/28/oil-change-international-response-to-export-development-canada-changes-in-the-emergency-response-act/

Report detailing more than CAD 10 billion in fossil fuel finance from Export Development Canada: http://priceofoil.org/2018/11/22/risking-it-all-export-development-canada/

Report detailing Canada’s billions in fossil fuel subsidies: http://priceofoil.org/2016/11/16/canadas-fossil-fuel-subsidies/