Canada moves ahead with 750-mile oil pipeline

It would be uplifting to think that in one of the richest, most progressive countries in the world, public discourse on energy would be dominated by renewables. But it would be delusional. In Canada it’s all about tar. Alberta’s sticky black tar sands account for nearly 10 per cent of the world’s proven oil reserves – 160 billion barrels. They yield oil that hitherto could access world markets only via pipelines through the US midwest to Louisiana, which cut costs to US consumers by up to $47 a barrel compared with Texan light crude. But this month the Trans Mountain project got regulatory clearance for the last stage of a 750-mile pipeline through the Rockies to the Pacific that will let Alberta sell its treacle more easily to California and the Far East. Futures traders have already seen the discount on Canadian oil fall to barely $13 a barrel. Prices at the pump will rise for midwestern motorists as the US election looms, but boom times beckon for Alberta. Geography counts.