TransCanada blames ‘substantial uncertainty’ for killing Energy East pipeline
CALGARY — TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) says it is cancelling its $15.7-billion proposed Energy East pipeline because of “substantial uncertainty” caused by a regulatory panel’s decision to include upstream and downstream emissions in its assessment of the project.
CEO Russ Girling cited non-specific “changed circumstances” for the decision in a brief news release Thursday morning, without giving further explanation.
But in a letter to the National Energy Board posted Thursday on the NEB website, TransCanada says it’s halting the project because of a National Energy Board panel’s decision in September to allow hearings to consider greenhouse gas emissions from producing and processing the oil it transports in the pipeline, an unprecedented expansion of the scope of the inquiry.
In the letter, it says despite offers from the province of New Brunswick and the federal government to cover the cost of the analysis, it creates “substantial uncertainty around the scope, timing and cost associated with the regulatory review” of Energy East and the associated Eastern Mainline projects.