Canada’s Senate passed on Thursday two controversial bills restricting the movement of oil tankers off the northern coast of British Columbia and overhauling the assessment process for oil pipelines—bills which have pitted environmentalists and liberals against the oil industry and the neighboring oil-producing province of Alberta. In a very close 49-46 vote, the Senate passed the so-called Bill C-48 which “prohibits oil tankers that are carrying more than 12?500 metric tons of crude oil or persistent oil as cargo from stopping, or unloading crude oil or persistent oil, at ports or marine installations located along British Columbia’s north coast from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to the Alaska border.” Last month, Canada’s Senate Standing Committee on Transportation voted to defeat the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act that opponents of the bill view as damaging to Canada’s oil industry. Alberta’s Premier Jason Kenny said that he was “Very disappointed that […]