LandKeepers News Archive
Panel Struck to Review Pipeline to West Coast
January 21 2010 | News Articles | Calgary Herald
Enbridge plan to undergo scrutiny
By Shaun Polczer
A formal hearing into the Northern Gateway pipeline took a step closer after the National Energy Board and the federal department of the environment on Wednesday announced the panel charged with reviewing the
project.
The three-member team will oversee public hearings and the environmental review when Enbridge Inc. submits a regulatory application for the 1,200-kilometre pipeline, which will carry 525,000 barrels per day of
oilsands production from Edmonton to a deep water terminal at Kitimat, B.C.
“Now it’s up to Enbridge,” said NEB spokeswoman Kristen Higgins. “We’re waiting on an application.”
The panel will be headed by Sheila Leggett who has been a member of the NEB since 2006 and is currently its vice-chairwoman. Prior to joining the NEB, Leggett was with Alberta’s Natural Resources Conservation Board and a founding member for Alberta Ecotrust.
Joining her will be Kenneth Bateman, who was previously vice-president of legal affairs for Enmax, and Hans Matthews, a mining geologist with extensive aboriginal experience at Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.
Once Enbridge’s application is received, it will be reviewed for completeness and a hearing order will be issued, paving the way for public consultations.
The joint review panel announcement sets the stage for what promises to be a lively debate between pipeline proponents who argue Canada desperately needs access to Asian markets and environmentalists bitterly opposed to opening coastal waters to tanker traffic.
Virtually all of Canada’s oil exports flow on pipelines to the United States and Premier Ed Stelmach on Wednesday spoke on a local talk radio show of the need to diversify Alberta’s export markets.
Northern Gateway’s vice-president of public and government aff airs, Steve Greenaway, said the pipeline is in Canada’s national interest to ensure maximum value for the country’s resources. A formal regulatory application is expected to be filed before the end of March, he added.
“Many industry observers have spoken of the discounts that face producers in the absence of having new markets and having to rely on one market.”
To get to the coast, the pipeline has to cross through traditional lands of native groups, many of which are opposed to the project. British Columbia is conducting 49 sets of negotiations to resolve outstanding land claims issues, according to the B.C. Treaty Commission website.
David de Wit, the natural resources manager of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation, said his group will participate in the review panel process even though it feels the process lacks legitimacy. De Wit says he’s concerned
what impact the pipeline and the threat of a spill will have on salmon habitat, which people rely on for food.
“The Wet’suwet’en will try to have unaddressed issues addressed in whatever forum takes place,” he said. “But it’s a lengthy and time consuming process to participate . . . We’d prefer not to see the project take place.”
This Entry is Not Tagged. Click here to Add Tags