Industry says Keystone delay won’t hurt Canada’s pipeline construction

Canadian pipeline construction won’t be slowed down as a result of the lengthy review process for Keystone XL, an industry leader said.

Brenda Kenny, president of the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, said energy companies are planning C$650 billion ($584 billion) of natural resources investments in the next 10 years, including pipelines, according to Bloomberg News.

{mosads}Those will be all over Canada, including in the Arctic, where Kenny said companies can handle permafrost.

The conservative administration of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has sought to simplify approvals for oil pipelines. Kenny told Bloomberg that would require hiring more staff for the National Energy Board, which approves such infrastructure.

Kenny said delays such as the six-year-long United States review of Keystone serve as a reminder “that anyone who is smart about markets will have a diversified route.”

That delay and similar ones are costing Canada billions of dollars, Kenny said.

She said the industry should share some blame for that, saying pipeline officials are generally more concerned with safety than public outreach about their work.