Canada has more energy reserves than it knows what to do with. And while its biggest customer, America, may be rethinking its relationship with Canadian oil, Asia is growing thirstier by the day.

Accessing the West Coast is proving difficult for exporters. To get oil to China and her neighbors, a proposed pipeline would carry it from Alberta to British Columbia and then shipped across the Pacific. This planned pipe is called the Northern Gateway.

But the British Columbian government does not share Alberta’s pipe dream. It’s busy forging its own energy export revolution with big plans to sell gas to Asia. Most British Columbians we spoke to saw oil as dirtier and more risky to ship.

The economic benefits of a pipeline are impressive, $270 billion over 30 years, according to Enbridge. But it takes a visit to Canada’s west coast to fully appreciate what’s at stake environmentally.

First Nations groups — made up of insist they’ll not be dictated to. When the federal government approved the pipeline, their protests hit new levels of fury and defiance. But it’s not easy negotiating with this fragmented native community. There are almost 200 First Nations’ groups across British Columbia, and many of them demand a say.

Most powers in Canada fall under the control of provincial politicians, rather than the national government in Ottawa except in certain areas, like energy security and pipelines. But the Premier of British Columbia, a key supporter of gas projects and eco-friendly policies, is unlikely to accept the Northern Gateway without a fight.

Northern Gateway aims to connect Canada with emerging trade partners across the Pacific, but divisions at home may pose a permanent blockage to this particular pipeline. CCTV America’s Kristiaan Yeo reports.

For more on this, Kent Moors joins us from Pittsburgh. He’s the executive chairman of the High-powered Global Energy Symposium. He is also the editor of Energy Advantage.

For more on the issue, Diane Francis, author of Merger of the Century, Why Canada and America Should Become One Country joins CCTV America.

Follow Phillip Yin at Follow Phillip Yin on Twitter @PhillipTKYin