TransCanada says it won’t proceed with its Energy East pipeline and Eastern Mainline proposals.
Russ Girling, the Calgary-based energy company’s CEO and president, said in a statement that National Energy Board and Quebec officials will be informed TransCanada won’t go forward with the applications.
The company says it will take a $1-billion charge to write down the project on its books in its next quarterly results.
“We appreciate and are thankful for the support of labour, business and manufacturing organizations, industry, our customers, Irving Oil, various governments, and the approximately 200 municipalities who passed resolutions in favour of the projects,” Girling said in a release. “Most of all, we thank Canadians across the country who contributed towards the development of these initiatives.”
The proposed Energy East project would have carried oil from Alberta and Saskatchewan across the country to be refined in New Brunswick. It would have added 1,500 kilometres worth of new oil pipelines to an existing network of more than 3,000 kilometres, which would have been converted from carrying natural gas, to carrying oil.
New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant said in a statement that the company’s decision not to move forward is “not good news” for those who wanted to see the pipeline built, including the provincial government.
“Like many New Brunswickers, we are disappointed. The project would have created jobs in New Brunswick and helped the Canadian economy,” Gallant said.
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, who has opposed the project, tweeted Thursday that he was proud to see the project abandoned.
The move comes nearly a month after it suspended its application to the National Energy Board (NEB) and hinted it might decide not to pursue the project in light of the regulator’s new, tougher review process.
TransCanada said at the time it wanted to conduct a “careful review” of the new assessment process to gauge its effect on the costs, schedules and viability of the pipeline.
It was granted a 30-day suspension, which was set to expire Sunday.