Outrage as Canadian Regulator Lets Government-Owned Pipeline Keep Insurers Secret
Published on
Friday, April 30, 2021
by Common Dreams
"A project which can only be insured secretly has lost its social license to operate," said one Trans Mountain opponent.
by Jake Johnson, staff writer
A Canadian regulatory agency on Thursday granted a request by the operator of the government-owned Trans Mountain pipeline to keep its insurers hidden from public view, a decision environmentalists said is a "dangerous precedent" and yet another reason to shut the dirty energy project down immediately.
"A project which can only be insured secretly has lost its social license to operate," Sven Biggs, Canadian Oil and Gas Program director at Stand.earth, said in a statement. "The fact that Trans Mountain is struggling to obtain adequate insurance makes clear that this pipeline system is too risky, and the Canadian government must shut it down and cancel the expansion project."
The Canada Energy Regulator (CER) said in a ruling Thursday that it accepts Trans Mountain Corporation's argument that unveiling the names of companies insuring the pipeline project would "prejudice its competitive position" and harm "its ability to obtain adequate insurance at a reasonable price."
"Trans Mountain has satisfied the requirements for confidentiality," CER said in its decision (pdf), which applies only to the existing pipeline and not the ongoing expansion.
Charlene Aleck, spokesperson for Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust Initiative, which opposes the pipeline, said in a statement that "by making the certificate of insurance confidential and removing a layer of transparency, the CER has reduced the options for Tsleil Waututh Nation to assert our inherent and constitutionally protected Aboriginal rights and fulfill our sacred obligation to protect and steward our territory."
More:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/30/outrage-canadian-regulator-lets-government-owned-pipeline-keep-insurers-secret
