Canada to proceed with North Coast tanker ban despite legal issues

Transport Minister Marc Garneau says the government will not be deterred by potential difficulties with a proposed ban on oil tanker traffic in the waters off British Columbia.    Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau says the government plans to proceed with a proposed ban on oil tanker traffic in the waters off British Columbia despite potential legal issues surrounding the ban.
   Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first proposed the controversial plan to ban crude oil tankers in the North Coast region of Canada during his election last year.
   “It is a promise that we made, and we are going to carry out,” Garneau recently told reporters. “What we want to do is do it in the most intelligent and sensible way, and there are a number of options that we can look at.”
   One potential issue with a tanker ban is that it could interfere with “innocent passage,” an international law that allows vessels from other countries to pass through Canada’s territorial waters.
   “We’ll make sure we’re respecting the different laws,” said Garneau, but added the government remains determined to move forward in creating the ban.
   Other issues that could make things difficult for Garneau and Trudeau include a potential lawsuit from Enbridge Inc. over its Northern Gateway pipeline, a $7.9 billion project to transport crude from Edmonton, Alberta to a deepwater port in Kitimat, B.C. for export to Asian markets. A ban might also interfere with United States oil tankers transiting Canadian waters en route to Alaska. 
   “The Americans would see this as very disruptive of historic inland passage supply routes to and from Alaska, and in shared waters like the (disputed) Dixon Entrance,” John Higginbotham, a former senior Transport Canada official told the Vancouver Sun newspaper. “They would see a ban through a sharp and uncomfortable bilateral legal and security lens.”
   Local media reports have also suggested provincial governments such as Alberta could oppose the federal ban on the grounds it interferes with Alberta’s jurisdiction over the development and overseas sale of its natural resources.
   Garneau held roundtable sessions with business, aboriginal and environmental groups in Vancouver on Wednesday to discuss the ban as well as a variety of other transportation issues. He also met with representatives of Port Metro Vancouver and the Western Canada Marine Response Corp., which is responsible for oil spill response in British Columbia, and is scheduled to meet with First Nations and other groups in Prince Rupert today.