How the American environmental movement dealt a blow to Alberta's oilpatch

The strategy to stifle Alberta's oilsands came together in a hotel near a mall in Minneapolis over a decade ago. It was the fall of 2008, and a group of environmental activists spent part of a conference there brainstorming tactics for slowing down the growth of the oilsands — and they identified pipelines as the most vulnerable target. One in particular fit the bill: Keystone XL — a 1,897-kilometre pipeline to be built by TC Energy that would carry up to 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Hardisty, Alta., to Nebraska, where it would link up with the company's existing pipeline network. Their fateful decision at that meeting to throw money and organizational effort into attacking the proposed pipeline opened a difficult new chapter for the oilpatch. Now, those activists are claiming victory. A decade later, Alberta crude is increasingly choked off from international markets; growth forecasts have been cut in half; iconic Canadian energy companies are rebranding themselves or moving head offices; and parts of Western Canada are simmering with talk of separatism. Several American activists interviewed in recent days cited the tactical decisions made in 2008 as setting the stage for the industry's current woes. "Keystone was a turning point," said Kenny Bruno, an organizer and author in the environmental movement who helped shape the anti-pipeline strategy. "It really did impact the industry — as we intended."...MORE