Environmental Defence says Energy East review needs to be done over following conflict of interest
Posted January 14, 2017 11:15 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CALGARY (NEWS 1130) – It’s time for an energy review panel to go back to the drawing board according to one lobby group.
The National Energy Board officially appointed three new members to the panel to review the Energy East Pipeline this week, after a conflict of interest caused previous members to step down.
But Patrick Derochie of Environmental Defence says members shouldn’t pick up what the last panel did, they need to restart the review.
“All the proceedings are void. Basically, participants in the proceedings cannot actually decide which decisions made by previous review panels are legitimate and which are not because the whole process is tainted by this conflict of interest by this apprehension of bias.”
Derochie says the previous panel’s work should be considered void and Ottawa still has to revamp its review process.
“The government itself has acknowledged that the NEB process is flawed and has agreed to undertake this modernization,” explains Derochie. “It really doesn’t make sense for the government to continue with a botched review using a flawed process.”
Derochie is applauding the new panel, which represents difference provinces and has extensive background in regulations.
