CALGARY – The president of the Northern Gateway pipeline says the possibility of a 2018 start-up date is “quickly evaporating.”

John Carruthers says the company planning to build the project, Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB), is focused on getting support from First Nations groups along the pipeline’s route from Alberta to Kitimat.

He told a Calgary business audience that the process of “re-engagement” with First Nations will take time and he’s not too fussed about keeping to a schedule.

Not meeting the 2018 date is a victory, says the Eoin Madden with the Wilderness Committee.

“It has to be respected how hard people have worked on the ground… ridiculous amounts of money thrown at this project. We’re all losing, even the business community. It’s a waste of money to push this pipeline right now,” he argues.

Madden feels both Enbridge and the federal government are starting to realize the consultation process could drag on longer then expected.

“They’re out of step because people care about climate change [and] because First Nations have had it confirmed at the Supreme Court level that they have a say in all of this. So, I think it’s slowly starting to dawn on both the oil industry and the federal government that they have a problem.”

His alternative? “You’ve got to look elsewhere. Let’s use the ingenuity that we have and let’s do what’s right. Let’s be clean energy leaders, not the people who are holding the whole world back.”

Northern Gateway, which has been in the works for six years, received regulatory approval in June, but the company has said it’s not in a rush to put shovels in the ground.

In addition to discussions with First Nations, Enbridge is also in the process of pinning down a new cost estimate and working through 209 conditions imposed with the regulatory approval.

If built, Northern Gateway would ship 525,000 barrels per day of diluted oilsands crude from the Edmonton area to Kitimat, where the oil would be loaded onto tankers and shipped to Asia.

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Photo: John Carruthers