OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Governor Jay Inslee is slamming Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to once again approve the contentious Trans Mountain pipeline expansion that would nearly triple the flow of oil from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific Coast.
The expansion is projected to cause tanker traffic to increase from about 60 to more than 400 vessels annually.
Inslee calls the expansion “alarming and deeply disappointing” and that the costs to “our environment and communities are simply too high.”
Trudeau says every dollar Canada earns from the project will be invested in clean energy, but he still expects still opposition from the British Columbia government and from activists.
Tuesday’s approval comes 10 months after the Federal Court of Appeal halted the project and ordered Canada’s National Energy Board to redo its review of the pipeline.