TransCanada said Thursday it isn't proceeding with plans to build an oil export port in Quebec as part of the proposed Energy East pipeline, saying the decision was made following comments from local groups, partners and its clients. (Canadian Press)

TransCanada said Thursday it isn't proceeding with plans to build an oil export port in Quebec as part of the proposed Energy East pipeline, saying the decision was made following comments from local groups, partners and its clients.
Photo Credit: (Canadian Press)

TransCanada drops plans to build oil export terminal on St. Lawrence

 Greenpeace activists in Cacouna, Quebec, protest plans by TransCanada to build a new tanker port on the St. Lawrence Seaway to export tar sands oil from the proposed Energy East pipeline. Photo taken Friday, April 25, 2014.
Greenpeace activists in Cacouna, Quebec, protest plans by TransCanada to build a new tanker port on the St. Lawrence Seaway to export tar sands oil from the proposed Energy East pipeline. Photo taken Friday, April 25, 2014. © PC/HO

Environmental groups in Quebec celebrated a major victory on Thursday as TransCanada Corp. announced that it’s dropping plans to build an oil export terminal in Cacouna, about 450 km north-east of Montreal.

“We are very happy,” said Patrick Bonin, Climate and Energy Campaigner with Greenpeace Canada. “This is above all a great victory for the citizens and the environmental groups who made it clear to TransCanada that their plans to build an oil export terminal are not welcome in Quebec but the fight is far from over. TransCanada needs to realize that the people of Quebec are not just opposed to the terminal but to the pipeline itself. Every day the opposition to TransCanada’s Energy East tar sands pipeline is growing.”

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The proposed port was as part of TransCanada’s proposed Energy East pipeline, but the Calgary-based company announced Thursday morning it’s amending its application to the National Energy Board to take the Quebec port out of the project’s scope.

TransCanada had wanted to create an oil export route from the landlocked Western province of Alberta to energy markets in eastern Canada and overseas by connecting its proposed Energy East pipeline to ports in Cacouna and Saint John, New Brunswick.

Last April, TransCanada announced it would not build a port in Cacouna, Que., after months of protests from environmentalists concerned about a breeding ground for beluga whales.

The decision to drop the Cacouna terminal came following a government recommendation to recognize beluga whales as an endangered species.

“While this battle is won, the war is not over,” Bonin said. “The company still has plans to build a new oil terminal in Saint John, New Brunswick, putting the Bay of Funday at risk with hundreds of massive oil tankers potentially travelling through the bay every year.”

TransCanada president Russ Girling said Thursday’s announcement “demonstrates our dedication to listening and delivering a vital infrastructure project that will provide significant economic benefits to all provinces along the pipeline’s route.”

The company said it will submit its changes to the National Energy Board, and that the pipeline should be up and running by 2020.

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