There are no plans to construct an oil terminal anywhere on Tsawwassen First Nation lands, according to Chief Bryce Williams.
In an emailed statement, he said the first nation鈥檚 executive council had 鈥渋mmediately鈥� rejected a 鈥減reliminary and unsolicited鈥� proposal presented as a project that could potentially be backed by Chinese resource firm Sinoenergy earlier in 2017.
The Globe and Mail newspaper reported Monday that Canadian Advantage Petroleum Corporation, a subsidiary of Sinoenergy, had conducted 鈥渆arly engineering work鈥� on an oil terminal on the first nation鈥檚 lands and that a company spokesman indicated a TFN community vote on the project could come as early as June.
The oil-by-rail proposal reportedly aims to bring crude oil by train through B.C. from Chinese-owned portions of the Alberta oil patch and load it to very large tankers bound for refineries in Asia.
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Williams said that at no point during the earlier pitch had Canadian Advantage Petroleum Corporation been mentioned.
He said the first nation is not pursuing any similar project, nor is any community vote being scheduled.
鈥淎t this time, TFN has no intention of moving forward with any proposal to build an oil terminal on Tsawwassen Lands,鈥� Williams said.
鈥淭sawwassen First Nation has not received an oil terminal proposal by Canadian Advantage Petroleum Corporation, nor has TFN indicated an interest in similar proposals from any other organization or company.鈥�
Canadian Advantage Petroleum Corporation has not yet responded to inquiries.
Industry experts have previously predicted there would be growing interest by oil firms in transporting crude by rail to west coast ports, in the absence of increased pipeline capacity.
Kinder Morgan鈥檚 planned twinning of its Trans Mountain pipeline has federal government approval but could face new opposition from B.C. depending on the makeup of the next provincial government.
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