Stories

An update on the North Coast Tanker Ban

August, 2026

While the North Coast Tanker Ban is safe, Ottawa and Alberta announced they will be moving ahead with a southern pipeline and tanker route instead.

The decision to keep the North Coast free of oil tanker ports is a victory worth celebrating. This win belongs to the thousands of people, Indigenous Nations, coastal communities, and organizations who spoke up and refused to give up fighting for the place they love.

This moment is bittersweet though. While the North Coast Tanker Ban is safe, Ottawa and Alberta announced they will be moving ahead with a southern pipeline and tanker route instead.

This route will put local communities and B.C.’s iconic Southern Resident orcas, which are already close to the brink of extinction, at risk. Increasing tanker traffic in their habitat raises concerns for underwater noise, ship strikes, declining salmon populations and the ever-present risk of a catastrophic oil spill.

Taxpayers are now on the hook for funding

Ottawa and Alberta are already backtracking on their commitment to find private backers for the new pipeline; instead, they have named a crown corporation— i.e. public money— as the major funder. So, in addition to the huge environmental price, taxpayers are now on the hook for funding the majority of this project. And with initial estimates coming in at $34 to $43 billion dollars, that’s a lot of money that already-stretched households are going to have to pay.

The pivot to a pipeline to B.C.’s southern coast is looking like a repeat of the infamously over-priced Trans Mountain Expansion project, which began with an estimated cost of $5.4 billion and ballooned to more than $34 billion, all on the backs of taxpayers.

Let’s build on the momentum of the North Coast victory and get ready to stand up for people and orcas on the South Coast.

Photo by Gary Sutton.

West Coast Oil Pipeline as a project of “national interest”

In early August, the federal government announced it was moving forward on designating the proposed West Coast Oil Pipeline as a project of “national interest” under the Building Canada Act or Bill C-5.

A notice published in the Canada Gazette on August 1 started the legal 30-day notice period. If designated, the pipeline could see its approval process, including environmental assessments, dangerously fast-tracked.

As B.C. declares a state of emergency over wildfires, now is not the time to double down fossil fuels that will prevent us from reaching our climate goals and worsen climate impacts on our communities.

The public has until September 18 to submit comments on the designation. Those who wish to provide feedback on the Government’s decision may submit them to WCOPComment-CommentaireOCO@mpo-bgp.gc.ca.

Let’s build on the momentum of the North Coast victory and get ready to stand up for people and orcas on the South Coast.