Stop the Hogs!

Ottawa names Kinder Morgan pipeline panel

[ http://www.canada.com/business/energy/o ... story.html ]

PETER O'NEIL Published on: May 17, 2016 | Last Updated: May 17, 2016 3:39 PM PDT

Ottawa — Opposition parties heaped scorn Tuesday on the Trudeau government’s new “parallel” review process for Kinder Morgan’s proposed $6.8-billion oilsands pipeline project to Burnaby.

A three-person panel, named just days before the federal regulator is to present its comprehensive review to cabinet, will meet with members of the public and indigenous communities from June to September, Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr announced.

They will file by Nov. 1 a report for the government to consider while it decides on the regulatory review by the National Energy Board.

A federal decision on the project, which will triple the pipeline’s capacity to just under 900,000 barrels a day, was scheduled for August. But the government has extended the deadline to December to allow time for the second process.

Conservatives accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is ragging the puck on pipelines when the economy desperately needs them.

“When will the prime minister stop reviewing his reviews and make a decision?” said Rona Ambrose, the interim Conservative leader. She said the NEB process involved more than 1,600 participants and 35 indigenous groups.

The NDP’s Kennedy Stewart, meanwhile, said the new panel is a far cry from the wholesale revamping of the project’s environmental assessment promised by some Liberals before the election.

“The Liberals’ new add-on process, little more than a smokescreen, would actually do nothing to fix the NEB review process,” said the MP for Burnaby South. “Why has the prime minister broken his promise to British Columbians?”

Both Trudeau and Carr portrayed Tuesday’s announcement as part of a plan to persuade Canadians to trust the environmental review policy for major projects.

The reason the former Tory government couldn’t get pipelines to either coast was “because Canadians lost faith in their capacity to look out for the big picture, and to build a strong economy while protecting the environment,” Trudeau said during question period.

“We are working very hard, as Canadians have asked us to do, to restore their faith in our processes, in our government, in our capacity to build a strong economy and protect the environment, together.”

The three panelists named by Carr were:

• Kim Baird, a consultant who served from 1999 to 2012 as chief of the Tsawwassen First Nation, which in 2009 became the first to operate under a treaty through the B.C. treaty process.

• Annette Trimbee, a former senior Alberta public servant who is president and vice-chancellor of the University of Winnipeg.

• Tony Penikett, a visiting professor at Simon Fraser University, author of Reconciliation: First Nations Treaty Making in British Columbia, and former NDP Yukon premier.

The panel will consult from June to September.

The NEB, which began hearings into the project in April 2014, typically approves projects subject to a variety of conditions. It’s decision is expected on Friday.

However, the federal cabinet has the final say.

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[ http://www.canada.com/business/energy/o ... story.html ]

Trans Mountain Pipeline? 'Yes, But…' Says NEB

[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2016/05/19/Trans ... -Decision/ ]

Decision does little to quell mistrust of energy regulator -- or opposition to project, say critics.

By Megan Devlin, 19 May 2016, TheTyee.ca

With a shrug to climate change, tanker traffic and aboriginal interests, the National Energy Board gave a conditional green light to Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion Thursday.

Kinder Morgan wants to twin an existing pipeline that transports diluted bitumen from Alberta's oilsands to a terminal at Burnaby with a second line that will nearly triple its flow to 890,000 barrels per day from 300,000.

The NEB concluded that the expansion was in the Canadian public interest because it would create jobs and transport Alberta oil to overseas markets. But a vocal opposition questions that business case, and says the pipeline is environmentally irresponsible. [ http://www.neb-one.gc.ca/pplctnflng/mjr ... x-eng.html ]

"Today's decision does not mean Kinder Morgan will be built," said Adam Scott of Oil Change International. "No one should be surprised that the National Energy Board issued a rubber-stamp approval today. It's widely recognized that Canada’s national energy regulator is too close to industry and is lacking credibility."

The board's 157 conditions contain few big-ticket items. Most involve additional planning and paperwork: additional wildlife impact mitigation reports, emergency preparedness plans, earthquake and spill risk assessments, and reports of how the company engages with community and indigenous interests.

MORE:

[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2016/05/19/Trans ... -Decision/ ]

West Coast Tells Ottawa: Reject Trans Mountain Expansion

[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2016/06/07/West- ... ign=080616 ]

Green leader says she'll seek a judicial review of regulator’s project approval.

By Jeremy J. Nuttall, June 7, 2016 TheTyee.ca

The West Coast brought fighting words to Ottawa today, asking the federal government to deny final approval of the proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion.

A delegation from Vancouver said it came to Ottawa to urge the government to "say a definitive no" to Kinder Morgan's proposal to twin its existing line from Alberta to British Columbia.

Meanwhile, Green Party leader Elizabeth May said she would be seeking a judicial review of the National Energy Board's approval process.

The regulator recently approved the project, and it now waits final approval from Ottawa. [ http://thetyee.ca/News/2016/05/19/Trans ... -Decision/ ]

The delegation composed of Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, Chief Maureen Thomas from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Chief Ian Campbell from the Squamish Nation, and Councillor Howard Grant from the Musqueam Nation.

All the First Nations are located near Vancouver, and their representatives said the Liberal government's actions on the pipeline would prove to be a test of its sincerity in reconciliation with First Nations.

"We are here representing our citizens on the West Coast; our consent is required on this project," Robertson said. "The vast majority in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland do not support the Kinder Morgan expansion pipeline project."

The company proposes to twin its existing 60-year-old pipeline running from the Alberta tarsands to a terminal in Burnaby, where the product is loaded on tankers for export.

Opponents insist the doubling of the pipeline's capacity would result in too many oil tankers transiting Metro Vancouver's Burrard Inlet and the Salish Sea, increasing the risk of a spill.

The sea lies between Vancouver and Vancouver Island.

Oil spills and their potential impact on Vancouver's economy as well as the overarching issue of climate change provide a case for not expanding the pipeline, Robertson said.

"There is no business case, no social case and no environmental case for this pipeline," Robertson said, promising to push the government to prevent it.

He said the pipeline is an issue that could make or break the federal Liberals in Vancouver, and warned the city will consider legal action and other "tools" to stop it if approved by Ottawa.

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May takes issue with the NEB review not allowing for the testing of scientific evidence or the cross examination of witnesses.

"I've put the NEB on notice -- I think it's two years at least -- that if they did not allow basic rules of procedural fairness I would be seeking a judicial review of the entire process," she said.

The decision on the project from Ottawa is due later this year, and May said she believes she must launch her attempt at a judicial review before then. [Tyee]