The Times Colonist in Victoria, Saturday and Sunday, carried stories on this issue.
David Black wants to build a refinery on the coast because it would be relatively easy to ship in the components from Asia. He wants the tar/bitumen to be converted from dilbit to hard, dry pellets in Alberta before it is shipped by train to his refinery on the coast. This means no risk of a dilbit or oil spill in BC. Seems to me this could also be done with the tar meant for export. You might even be able to run the tar pellets through a pipeline with water. Maybe Alberta could use the water in the massive (visible from space) poisonous tailings ponds that adjoin the Athabasca River, assuming that water wouldn't be as poisonous as the diluent in dilbit.
The point is, BC might not have the authority to stop Alberta from shipping tar through BC but it might have the authority to dictate, for environmental and safety reasons, how that tar is shipped. If you don't want to hear what the courts have to say then you just have a lawless fear of the possible answer.
you're deluding yourself into thinking the opposition is rational, it isn't
they think they don't need any oil, they're being manipulated with money from the US anti oil/pipeline, while Obama laid enough pipe to go around the world
they like low gas prices in their own country, they get 99% of our oil exports, cheap
reality/facts don't matter, just look at Germany, with the delusions of "clean energy" there
the subsidies are ending there, guess what's happening, people aren't buying into it anymore, the few jobs it created are disappearing
solar/wind, isn't able to compete without being subsidized, look at Ont, now Alberta, both are hiding the real cost by paying part of the cost of electricity
same with electric cars, no one wants them, buys them, the only few who do, are fanatics, or do cause of the free money to subsidize them
when you offer free money, specially the gov't, the weasels come out of the woodwork
just look at what Warren Buffet says about the subsidies, basically he said clean energy doesn't make sense economically unless you subsidize it
look at the plant that used to make wind turbines in Ont, when the subsidies ran out, they folded like a cheap tent
solar is comparable, when it takes 15 yrs to just recoup the cost? lol
all we needed to do in Canada was switch from the remaining coal to natural gas, for now, everywhere, across the country, meaning build pipes, infrastructure and our emissions would have improved dramatically
but our politicians are too stupid to just start there
there is a reason why the refinery can't get traction, you can't the zealots to agree to anything less than zero
reality doesn't exist in their world