Environment

Time For BC To Withdraw From The NEB Process

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An interview with Larissa Stendie, author of Sierra Club BC report “Credibility Crises: Major Flaws Threaten Credibility Of NEB Assessment Process For Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline And Tankers Proposal.” She maintains the province’s interests are not being looked after in the proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline hearings and it is time for BC to withdraw from the NEB Process

There were enough intervenors looking at the flaws in Kinder Morgans proposal, Sierra Club BC decided to look at their process. Here are some quotes from their press release:

“Rigging the process has created a massive legal cloud over Kinder Morgan’s proposal. The NEB’s approval will be vulnerable to legal challenge on any number of fronts, all because the federal government has turned its back on fairness and stacked the deck in Kinder Morgan’s favour.”

“By restricting participation to those who meet their limited definition of persons ‘directly affected’ by the project, and excluding any discussion of the associated climate impacts, the NEB has prevented British Columbians from participating in decisions about the future of our communities,” said Stendie. “With increasing drought and wildfires around the province, we are all directly affected by the climate impacts that the NEB isn’t allowing us to talk about, and we all have a right to be heard.”

– Larissa Stendie, Sierra Club BC’s Energy and Climate Campaigner.

Some of the problems the Sierra Club BC report details are:

  1. Public participation severely curtailed.
  2. Participants denied adequate and timely funding.
  3. Upstream and downstream impacts, such as climate change, not considered.
  4. Kinder Morgan allowed to submit incomplete information.
  5. The only evidence subject to cross-examination is First Nations oral evidence.
  6. No cross examination of Kinder Morgan permitted.
  7. Kinder Morgan is allowed to ignore or provide incomplete responses to written Information Requests.
  8. Panel has accepted 80% of the Kinder Morgan’s motions, but only 11% of intervenor motions.
  9. Panel failed to ensure Kinder Morgan’s environmental and risk assessment conformed to accepted best practices.

Read the written version of this article

top Photo by Rob Polo taken from the Sierra Club BC report “Credibility Crises: Major Flaws Threaten Credibility Of NEB Assessment Process For Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline And Tankers Proposal”