Chair, they question me all the time, all the time.
Let me talk about why the Kinder Morgan pipeline is so important to our country. I know I touched on it a bit already but I will continue.
The Trans Mountain expansion project was proposed, in response to requests from oil companies, to help them reach new markets by expanding the capacity of North America's only pipeline with access to the west coast.
These shippers have made significant 15- and 20-year commitments that add up to roughly 80% of the capacity in the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline. On November 29, 2016, the Government of Canada granted approval for the Trans Mountain expansion project. Earlier, on May 19, 2016, following a 29-month review, the National Energy Board concluded the project is in the national Canadian public interest and recommended that the federal Governor in Council approve the expansion. These approvals allow the project to proceed with 157 conditions. In addition, the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office issued an environmental assessment certificate for the Trans Mountain expansion project.
As mentioned, the original Trans Mountain pipeline was built in 1953 and continues to operate safely today. The expansion is essentially a twinning of the existing 1,150 kilometre pipeline between Strathcona County, near Edmonton, Alberta, and Burnaby, B.C. It will create a pipeline system with the normal capacity of the system going from 300,000 barrels a day to 890,000 barrels per day.
It's expected that it will cost—well, we'll see—an estimated $7.4 billion. It will create benefits including new short- and long-term jobs, job-related training and opportunities, and increases in taxes collected by all three levels of government. During the construction phase, the equivalent of 15,000 people will be working on the pipeline expansion and the expansion will also create the equivalent of 37,000 direct and indirect induced jobs per year during operations.
The combined impact on government revenue for construction in the first 20 years of expanded operations is $46.7 billion, revenues that can be used for public services such as health care and education. British Columbia receives $5.7 billion; Alberta receives $19.4 billion, and the rest of Canada receives $21.6 billion. It will be approximately 980 kilometres of new pipeline; 73% of the route will use the existing right of way. Sixteen per cent will follow other linear infrastructures such as telecommunications, hydro, or highways, and 11% will be new right of way. This will include 193 kilometres of reactivated pipeline. Twelve new pump stations will be built.
Nineteen new tanks will be added to the existing storage terminals. There will be three new berths built at the Westridge marine terminal in Burnaby, once the new berths are completed and in service. The number of tankers loaded could increase to 34 a month.
So, why expand? This again goes to how the cancellation could affect—or nationalize now—Canada's oil and gas sector.