The Trans Mountain pipeline, owned by the federal government, is a culprit in the destruction of endangered spotted owl habitat, The Narwhal has learned in a new twist to 11th-hour efforts to save the owl from extinction in Canada.

The B.C. NDP government, elected in 2017 on a platform that included using “every tool in [the] toolbox” to stop Trans Mountain from being built, quietly approved 24 new cutblocks for the pipeline in habitat federal scientists deemed necessary for the owl’s survival and recovery, including old-growth forests. 

According to the non-profit group Wilderness Committee, the cutblocks fall in the Coquihalla River valley, east of Hope, and along the Fraser River between Chilliwack and Hope. A swath of cutblocks more than 10 kilometres long slices through the Coquihalla-Sowaqua wildlife habitat area near Hope, which the B.C. government protected for the spotted owl’s recovery. An additional cutblock awaits approval.

The pipeline’s destruction of spotted owl habitat puts the federal government, which owns Trans Mountain, in a very awkward situation. Under the Species at Risk Act, the government is responsible for identifying the owl’s critical habitat and taking action to prevent the species from dying out in Canada. 

In February, federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault said he would recommend the federal cabinet issue a rare emergency order to protect the owl and its habitat in B.C., the only place in Canada where it’s ever been found. An emergency order — granted under the Species at Risk Act — would allow Ottawa jurisdiction over decisions that normally fall to B.C., such as whether or not to issue logging permits.

In February, Canada’s Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said he would recommend the federal cabinet issue an emergency order to protect endangered spotted owls and their habitat. Photo: Selena Phillips-Boyle / The Narwhal

Andrea Olive, a University of Toronto professor whose research focuses on species-at-risk conservation, said clear-cutting spotted owl habitat for the Trans Mountain pipeline highlights a problem with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s message that Canada can both be a natural resource superpower and champion biodiversity and conservation.

“When push comes to shove, these are the decisions that we have to make,” Olive said in an interview. “We have a prime minister who keeps telling us again, and again, that sustainable development is possible. And that we essentially can have our cake and eat it too, or have our pipeline and the owl too.”

“This is messy,” Olive said. “This is really hard. And I don’t think we can, in this case, have forestry the way we’re having it and spotted owls, sadly.”

Only three spotted owls remain in the wild in Canada, following decades of industrial logging in the old-growth forests where the owl nests in cavities in large-diameter trees and preys mainly on flying squirrels and packrats. About 30 spotted owls live in aviaries at a multi-million dollar breeding centre in Langley funded by the B.C. government, where eggs are hatched in incubators in the hopes of releasing captive-bred owls into the wild. The first release took place last August, when three young owls born in the captive breeding program were set free near the Fraser Canyon (one later suffered an injury and was brought back into captivity). 

Spotted owls hatch in incubators at the B.C. Northern Spotted Owl Breeding Centre, where they are monitored around the clock and fed pieces of rat. Photo: Northern Spotted Owl Breeding Centre

Documents obtained by The Narwhal under freedom of information legislation show almost half of spotted owl core critical habitat — habitat that biologists, using the best available science, deemed necessary for the owl’s survival and recovery — was quietly removed from federal maps between 2021 and 2023, following negotiations with the B.C. government.

The removed area, which includes some Trans Mountain pipeline cutblocks, was renamed “potential future critical habitat” on maps published in January in a long-overdue proposed spotted owl recovery strategy. The designation is not a legal term and does not exist under Canada’s Species at Risk Act. 

“Critical habitat” is a defined term under the Act, triggering certain obligations and requirements once identified.

Trans Mountain pipeline cutblocks overlap with spotted owl habitat

According to the Wilderness Committee, the Trans Mountain pipeline cutblocks are among 200 the B.C. government approved that overlap with spotted owl “potential future” critical habitat. The proposed recovery strategy, open for public comment until March 27, gives the B.C. government up to 60 years to decide if “potential future” habitat merits designation as core “critical habitat,” triggering protections under the Species at Risk Act.

The cutblocks add up to almost 1,700 hectares, more than four times the size of Vancouver’s Stanley Park. An additional 43 cutblocks overlapping with “potential future critical habitat” await approval by the B.C. forests ministry. 

Olive said the Species at Risk Act “means nothing” if it’s not enforced. “If we can just conveniently re-define critical habitat as industry needs us to, then what are we even doing?” she asked. “The whole thing is supposed to be science-led, science and Indigenous Knowledge. And we’re not listening to science, we’re listening to industry. When it’s inconvenient for industry, we’re going to redefine science. Is that really what we’re doing?”

Pipe stored near Hope, B.C., for anticipated work on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, which will destroy spotted owl habitat. Photo: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal

The Trans Mountain cutblocks in spotted owl habitat are found in long swaths, some with overlapping persmits, as well as in three smaller sections, according to Geoff Senichenko, research and mapping coordinator for the Wilderness Committee.

A Sowaqua wildlife habitat area mitigation plan Trans Mountain submitted to the Canada Energy Regulator notes mature and old forests would be cleared for the pipeline. (The wildlife habitat area’s official name is Coquihalla-Sowaqua.) The plan says no spotted owls were detected during surveys. Appropriate measures will be applied to minimize the pipeline’s impacts to spotted owls, including retaining and “replacing” suitable nest trees and revegetation, the plan says. It does not explain how trees hundreds of years old will be replaced.

The plan also says Trans Mountain has evaluated potential offset measures. The company’s preferred offset approach is spotted owl “population management directed and implemented” by the province — achieved through financial contributions Trans Mountain would make to the breeding program. In October 2021, Trans Mountain announced it had donated $5,000 to the program to help feed the owls. 

The B.C. government has approved 24 cutblocks in endangered spotted owl habitat, including in a “protected” wildlife management area, to make way for the Trans Mountain pipeline (in red). Map: Geoff Senichenko / Wilderness Committee

Guilbeault, in a February letter to B.C. Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Nathan Cullen, said a federal assessment had determined the spotted owl faces imminent threats to its survival and recovery. More than 2,500 hectares across spotted owl habitat had a high potential to be harvested over the next year, Guilbeault noted. “The complete or partial logging of these areas, distributed over a patchwork of spotted owl habitat, would alter the amount and configuration of their habitat, making the achievement of its recovery objectives highly unlikely,” he wrote.

Olive said her first thought, upon hearing of the emergency order recommendation, was “too little, too late.” We knew years ago that the spotted owl was in trouble and we also know habitat loss is the principal reason for its decline, she pointed out. 

“This is ridiculous. This is way past the point of the precautionary principle.” The precautionary principle states that a lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing protection measures in the case of threats of serious or irreversible damage.

“We’re actually talking about a species that really is functionally extinct,” Olive said. “And that should be a huge deal, right? … It’s sort of already too late. If we had cared about that, then this [the emergency order] should have happened 10 years ago.”

She speculated the threat of an emergency order for the spotted owl might be a power play, possibly to convince the B.C. government to fulfill a commitment made in 1996 and enact a stand-alone law to protect the province’s 1,300 listed at-risk species. Only four species are protected under B.C.’s Wildlife Act, while the federal Species at Risk Act automatically protects species only on federal land — about one per cent of the province, including national parks and post offices. 

The Act gives the federal government the power to step in if it believes a species faces imminent threats to its survival and recovery. Only twice in the Act’s 20-year history has federal cabinet issued an emergency order to protect an endangered species — once for the western chorus frog in Quebec and once for the greater sage grouse in Alberta. 

Olive said it’s unusual for the federal government to threaten to override provincial jurisdiction. “That’s not generally how Canada operates. And so when you do it, you need to do it carefully. And you need to do it seriously,” she said. “I would hate to think that this is some sort of empty threat by the minister.”

Federal government in talks with B.C., Indigenous peoples on protections for spotted owls

In an emailed response to questions, Samantha Bayard, senior communications advisor for Guilbeault’s department, said the minister will make a recommendation to the federal cabinet in a timely way “for measures to protect [the] spotted owl from imminent threats.”

“The government of Canada is committed to acting on sound science and all available information when it makes decisions, and works in close consultation with affected parties,” Bayard wrote. In addition to the findings of the imminent threat assessment that informed Guilbeault’s opinion, she said a number of factors may be considered in a decision about the emergency order, including “views shared by Indigenous peoples, socio-economic and legal considerations, views shared by stakeholders, and efforts by the government of British Columbia to mitigate imminent threats.” 

Guilbeault’s imminent threat assessment considered threats within proposed core critical habitat as well as additional areas of potential future critical habitat, Bayard noted. 

“Environment Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is working with the government of British Columbia to identify additional measures to protect and recover this symbolic species and its old-growth forest habitat, and has initiated the process of consulting with Indigenous peoples.” 

Bayard also said the amended spotted owl recovery strategy has not yet been finalized. 

The department did not respond to a request for comment on the Trans Mountain pipeline cutblocks. 

The B.C. government was not able to immediately respond to questions. 

135 species have been extirpated from Canada

In an emailed response to previous questions about logging in spotted owl habitat, B.C.’s resource stewardship ministry said no cutting permits were approved in 280,000 hectares “already identified and protected by the province as spotted owl habitat,” including wildlife management areas.

The B.C. government also said it has protected enough habitat to support 125 spotted owl pairs, a claim disputed by independent biologists, who point to the owl’s demise as proof the habitat is not sufficient. “B.C. is committed to recovery, but this is going to take [time],” the email from the resource stewardship ministry stated. It also said recovery of the spotted owl population “depends on the successful reintroduction of captive-bred owls back into the wild.” 

Incubator-hatched spotted owls are placed in a nest with biological or foster parents when they are about 10 days old. Photo: Northern Spotted Owl Breeding Program

Last October, Guilbeault warned provinces and municipalities there will be no more tolerance for destruction of habitats containing endangered species, saying “the party is over.” Asked by The Narwhal to elaborate, Guilbeault said the federal government is looking “very closely” at wildlife listed under the Species at Risk Act. 

Ottawa is currently negotiating with “many governments across Canada on a number of species,” the minister said in response to a question at a news conference in early March. Guilbeault cited caribou in Ontario and Quebec and the spotted owl as examples. “It’s a responsibility we have as a government to protect those species and obviously protect those species by protecting their habitats, there’s no two ways about it.”

If the spotted owl disappears from B.C., it will join 135 other species, including the black-footed ferret, on the list of wildlife extirpated from Canada. In December, the federal government signed a landmark global agreement committing to recover at-risk species and protect biodiversity.

Olive said all living things have intrinsic value and society should care about them simply because they exist. When species like the spotted owl disappear from Canada, “we are worse off, as a nation and as humanity,” she said. “Every time we lose a species, it’s losing part of us, it’s losing a piece of the global puzzle. And I think we should mourn the loss of all of those species who make up the larger whole. A piece of us is gone forever.”

— With files from Fatima Syed

Updated on March 17, 2023, at 3:01 p.m. PT: This story has been updated to include responses from Environment and Climate Change Canada.

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The purpose of the National Energy Board, like any regulator, is to be unprofitable. They perform unprofitable environmental assessments to make sure we have access to unprofitable clean drinking water and preserve unprofitable nature for unprofitable future generations. That’s because citizens value things beyond profits, and the National Energy Board represents citizens. In theory… 

One of the last things the Harper government did before it launched the federal election was to appoint Steven Kelly, who is a consultant for Kinder Morgan, to the National Energy Board. This guy was paid to convince the government to approve the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline. And now he’ll be part of the team that helps to decide if his own argument was convincing. If the pipeline review process was a cutest baby competition, we just hired the baby’s mom.

In fact, over half of NEB’s board members are pipeline mommies, a.k.a. oil industry professionals. Which is probably why the Kinder Morgan pipeline review processes has been widely condemned as a farce. The NEB refuses to take climate change into consideration in their review, even though scientists have made clear that more pipelines will lock us into a very hot, very grim future. But the fossil fuel industry, and their representatives in the NEB, are content to watch the world burn, as long as they can make money selling the matches.

There’s good evidence that the NEB no longer represents citizens and no longer works in the public interest. That could change before any more pipelines get built, depending on which Canadians are interested enough in their interests to vote on October 19th.

This video originally appeared in The Toronto Star. 

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Richard Kinder, Houston-based billionaire and CEO of Kinder Morgan Inc., told an industry audience last week the TransMountain pipeline expansion project “will go forward” if granted approval at the federal level, despite growing and very vocal opposition to the project in British Columbia.

Kinder said pipeline opponents are using “spurious arguments” to purposely strangle pipeline projects across North America as a means of fighting development in the Alberta oilsands.

“I am sure there are legitimate concerns about any mega infrastructure development, but a lot of this is [about] the pipeline as a choke point to get at production of the oilsands, which there are people in Canada and the U.S. who want to strangle that altogether,” Kinder said.

Kinder’s comments seem to affirm criticism that the company is refusing to take local opposition seriously.

“Rich Kinder's optimism shows he really does not understand B.C.,” Tzeporah Berman, adjunct professor of environmental studies at York University, told DeSmog Canada. “British Columbians love this coast,” she added, noting the recent bunker fuel spill in Vancouver’s English Bay “was a real wake up call.”

“Rich Kinder's confidence is surprising given Enbridge's Northern Gateway fiasco, the looming Supreme Court challenges to the National Energy Board’s pipeline review, the First Nations court cases and the polling showing that the vast majority of British Columbians are opposed to his project.”

The TransMountain review process has been fraught with tensions between the National Energy Board (NEB) and municipal authorities, environmental organizations and local First Nations.

Several major environmental organizations along with two opposition parties are calling on Premier Christy Clark to pull out of the federal review process. The call for withdrawal is supported by the Union of B.C. Municipalities, the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities and coastal First Nations.

Frustration with the review process has grown steadily in recent months, led in part by Kinder Morgan’s refusal to disclose information to intervenors. In addition, the NEB process prevented many members of the public — including climate scientists and other experts — from participating due to new exclusive rules.

“If the NEB really wanted to hear from British Columbians, why didn’t they design a process where our voices could be heard?” Caitlyn Vernon from the Sierra Club B.C. asked. “That’s why the B.C. government needs to step in and create a review that includes local voices, respects municipalities and First Nations, and considers the full impacts of Kinder Morgan’s proposal — especially its contribution to climate change.”

Keith Stewart, climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace Canada, said Kinder’s recent claim points to a sense of entitlement prominent within industry.

"It is indicative of the hubris of the oil industry that CEOs assume that they have a right to build what they want and where they want,” Stewart said.

“Mr. Kinder is not only underestimating the depth of opposition to his new pipeline, but he also doesn't seem to understand that concern over climate change isn't going to go away." 

Eoin Madden from the Wilderness Committee said Kinder’s strong position is purely a matter of corporate posturing.

“To be honest, I don't think Rich Kinder lacks respect for the seriousness of pipeline opposition here in B.C.,” Madden said. “His role at Kinder Morgan demands that he publicly appear confident and supportive of the TransMountain pipeline project regardless of whether or not his moral and business sense screams that it’s a dead project."

He added the conversation around Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline played out in a similar way.

However, Madden said, “I do think Kinder is purposely blind to the public interest in this issue. Why? Because he is paid large amounts of money to be.”

But things may be different after the English Bay spill, Madden said. 

“One thing remains crystal clear in its aftermath: folks in this part of the world care deeply about the Salish Sea, and seeing those waters sullied really hurt.”

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Secrecy surrounding pipeline emergency response plans will soon be the subject of public consultation conducted by the National Energy Board (NEB), according to the board’s CEO Peter Watson.

As the CBC reports, speaking to a group of business leaders in Vancouver on Monday, Watson said, “Canadians deserve to be consulted on the transparency of emergency management information for NEB-regulated pipelines.”

Pipeline operator Kinder Morgan recently made headlines for refusing to disclose emergency response plans for its TransMountain pipeline expansion project, which would nearly triple the capacity of the existing line. Kinder Morgan refused to release an unredacted version of the emergency plan despite repeated requests from the province of B.C.

As DeSmog Canada first reported, the same emergency response plans were released in full to the public in the U.S. for portions of the pipeline that extend down into Washington State.

Redacted from the B.C. plans were contact details for company officials and first responders, information regarding spill response measures and cleanup equipment as well as spill response timelines for each unique segment of the pipeline.

Kinder Morgan argued disclosing the documents in B.C. triggered "security concerns." The NEB ruled the company was within its right to keep the information secret, leading some to question the legitimacy of the federal pipeline review process.

Now, Watson said the NEB wants to rethink the disclosure issue.

"There may indeed be some specific information that should be kept confidential,” he said, “but I believe that we have been too conservative in our approach to this issue to date."

"And to tell you the truth," he added, "I haven't been happy with the amount of emergency response information that pipeline companies or the NEB has been sharing with the public."

Watson said the recent bunker fuel spill in Vancouver’s English Bay put a spotlight on spill response capacities.

"I do not believe we have a choice on this matter," he said. "We need to help ensure that everybody involved in an emergency response for a leak in an existing pipeline knows what their role is — and how to deliver on that role, when something serious happens."

The Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA) recently announced its would form a new task force to address public concern over disclosure rules.

“A number of our members have faced significant public pressure to disclose all information contained in emergency response plans,” Jim Donihee, chief operating officer with CEPA, said.

“The CEPA task force will work to support that by establishing clear principles and guidelines that seek to find the right balance between the public’s right to know, the privacy of personal information and the security considerations also required for public safety.”

Image Credit: NEB

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