At the 2018 small businesses week dinner on Wednesday, Matt Vickers with G7G, gave an update on their Railway Project. The G7G Railway is a 2,450 km long railway that runs from the oil sands in Fort McMurray, through the Peace River region, into the pacific tidewater ports of Valdez and Anchorage, Alaska. Their intent is to provide a alternative solution to the transportation of oil.
Vickers says that initially the project is expected to move up to a million barrels a day. With a single track, they are able to move a million to a million and a half barrels, with twin tracking, they are able to move somewhere between 4 and 5 million barrels per day.
At this time, they are waiting to have funding finalized and are hopeful that they will be able to confirm come Christmas time, that they have secured funding for the 27 billion dollar project.
Government approval was a heated topic in the audience, as many feel skeptical that the current governments will follow through, due to the cancellation of similar projects.
NDP MLA for Peace River, Debbie Jabbour, chimed in saying they’ve been interested from the start. She says “it’s reached cabinet level, they’ve had conversations about it – the ministry of energy and economic development respectively. They’re really supportive of the concept and we’re just waiting to see how we can collaborate on the next steps and move forward.”
Daniel Williams, a member of the United Conservative party who is running to be their MLA in Peace River, says Albertans have the right to be skeptical. ” I’m seeing when I talk to folks in the constituency, that they’re very frustrated with the fact that pipelines haven’t been built. This isn’t just about trying to grow the economy… it’s about putting a roof over our head and food on plates for a lot of Alberta families.”
He adds that Albertans are currently going through tough times and that could be felt in the room as members of the audience, passionately voiced their disbelief that this project would be any different than previous pipeline projects that seemed hopeful, got through the feasibility study process and were cancelled.
Vickers says that the approval process for the project would take up to two years. Construction, if all is approved and funded, would take another 5-6 years.
-LG