Deutsche Welle, where Canada gets its news Trudeau on Tuesday approved the plan to triple the capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline to move crude from inland Alberta to the Pacific coast. The importance of the Pacific pipeline decisions grew after US President Barack Obama's administration turned down TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, from Canada to the US Gulf Coast.
The project, costing 6.8 billion Canadian dollars ($5 billion), would be a big step in opening up the possibility of exports to the Asian market from Canada's oil sands. Although a pipeline already exists, the newly-approved plan is to create another line, running parallel, that could carry almost triple the amount - up from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels a day.
The pipeline, proposed by Houston-based Kinder Morgan, will terminate at Burnaby, in Vancouver Harbour.
HA! Texas strikes again!
"The project will triple our capacity to get Canadian energy resources to international markets beyond the United States," Trudeau said. Alberta alone has the world's third largest reserve of oil but, without the expansion of the pipeline, its distribution might prove too costly to export by ship or rail.
Howya gonna make Alberta a seaport?
Trudeau on Tuesday also approved another pipeline - Enbridge's Line 3 - from Alberta to the US state of Wisconsin, which is set to nearly double the line capacity to 760,000 barrels a day heading south of the border.
Trudeau paying off Wisconsin for voting for Trump?
However, opponents - which include municipalities in British Columbia, aboriginal groups and environmental organizations - have fought the plan, citing concerns about climate change as well as worries over pipeline leaks, spills or fires.
Don't forget the caribou! And the whales!
Many have looked for inspiration from protesters in the US, where there have been months of protest over the Dakota Access Oil pipeline from North Dakota to Illinois. The $3.8-billion project is opposed by