NEB has less than 6 months to re-do Trans Mountain environmental review

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The federal government has announced the first steps in its plan to get the Trans Mountain pipeline built, after a court ruling last month scrapped the approval for the controversial project.

The feds have ordered a new environmental review. The National Energy Board will have just 22 weeks to expand on the initial assessment.

The new review is being ordered to address the courts’ concerns around environmental risks to the B.C. coast. National Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi says it will look at the impacts of increased oil tanker traffic.

“Taking into account the potential effects of marine shipping related to the project.”

The review will also look at the government’s new oceans protection plan.

Sohi says he is also appointing a new technical advisor, “to ensure the National Energy Board has the expertise and capacity to deliver the best advice to the government.

Conservative critic Shannon Stubbs says this still doesn’t ensure the pipeline will be built. “There are no timelines for shovels in the ground, no timeline for completion.”

“Canadian families cannot wait until next year for a plan. For the workers affected, for confidence in Canada and Canada’s international reputation… every day counts.”

Greenpeace Canada says the feds’ move is a mistake.

“I don’t understand why they’re so fixated on this project. It’s part of the old economy and we really need to be investing in the new economy,” says energy strategist Keith Stewart.

He says activists had issues with the original approval process, and making another go of it won’t make a difference.

“It wasn’t a true assessment process. They were treating it as a kind of ‘What boxes do we have to tick?’ That’s not the way science works and it’s not the way true dialogue works. We think if this was subjected to the kind of review that they’ve promised they would do in the future, it wouldn’t pass.”

Stewart says he can’t understand why Ottawa continues to push ahead with the project while still claiming to be serious about addressing climate change.

This plan only addresses the environmental concerns raised by the courts. The government says it will soon be revealing its path forward on Indigenous consultations.

The Federal Court of Appeal last month quashed the approval the NEB and the cabinet gave the project in 2016, citing improper consultation with Indigenous communities and a lack of review of the marine shipping issue.

Several Indigenous communities, environment groups and the B.C. government are concerned about the higher risk of oil spills if an expanded pipeline increases oil tanker traffic from five per month to 35.

Sohhi also says the government’s decision on a potential legal appeal will be announced soon.

Alberta still skeptical following word of new pipeline review: Notley

Premier Rachel Notley told a news conference, she thinks the 22-week timeline for the NEB to conduct its review is reasonable.

But, she fears that opponents will use the opportunity to keep trying to stall the expansion.

“The NEB process is the part that has been our concern, that it would be used as a forum within which opponents would play legal games to drag it out indefinitely,” she said. “And if it starts to slip and the goalposts shift, I can assure you that the voices of Albertans will be loud, individually they would be loud, I have no doubt of that.”

It’s not clear what — if any — leverage Alberta has if the pipeline faces further delays.

Notley is not prepared to say what action she’d be willing to take.