Construction has begun on the $4 billion Enbridge Sunrise Expansion Program, which will lay new pipe for natural gas across B.C., and construction is poised to begin on a $3 billion gas line for Atco in Alberta.

Both lines still took years longer in the approval process than they would have in other developed countries, but they still managed to navigate to the construction stage while other proposed pipelines remain in the dreaming about it stage.

The difference between the pipelines being constructed and the ones being blocked is provincial borders. While some federal approvals are still required with infrastructure remaining within provincial boundaries, the extent of federal involvement is greatly curtailed.

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Environmental studies, local permits and Indigenous consultation are all still required when a pipeline is built within a province. And both Enbridge and Atco managed to do all those things. They clearly aren’t insurmountable hurdles.

As soon as Ottawa gets its hands on the approval process for new pipelines, they are pretty much dead in the water. The feds begin weighing the merits of a Western project with their electoral fortunes in Quebec and Toronto while layering on new and insurmountable barriers and requirements for approval. The Major Projects Office has become just another hurdle to try to leap rather than an organization facilitating development.

It’s true that there is no business case for interprovincial pipelines in Canada. That’s why Premier Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney are proposing nationalized energy projects. It has nothing to do with world demand for natural gas and oil, though. Those remain high. The problem is an obstructionist federal government determined to either control or halt new Western developments. And the construction of new lines within provinces bears that out.