Lawsuit to be filed on Enbridge approval
(Northern Gateway route. (source: enbridge.com)
NEWS — Enbridge’s $6.5 billion Northern Gateway pipeline got the go-ahead from the federal government today, and at least one lawsuit is already starting.
Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford announced the government’s approval of the project subject to consultation with aboriginal communities and provincial permits.
The pipeline will carry 525,000 barrels a day of diluted bitumen 1,177 km from the Alberta tar sands to Kitimat, from where it will be shipped to Asian markets.
A federal review panel that included the national Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency set out 209 conditions late last year that must be met before Enbridge can proceed.
Premier Christy Clark has insisted B.C. must receive a greater share of revenues from the project and that stringent environmental protection must be in place.
B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak told reporters today in a live-streamed press conference B.C.’s position remains unchanged and that the project has “a lot of work to do” to meet the province’s five conditions.
“So far, this project has only met B.C.’s first condition — the successful completion of the federal environmental review process,” she said. Still unmet are conditions on a “world-leading marine oil spill response,” spill prevention, Aboriginal and treaty rights, and a “fair share” of benefits for B.C.
In Ottawa, federal NDP leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal leader Justin Trudeau both blasted the decision.
The B.C. Federation of B.C. Naturalists (B.C. Nature) immediately announced it will file a lawsuit challenging the approval.
The planned lawsuit will ask the Federal Court of Appeal to set aside the Cabinet’s decision on a variety of grounds, said the Naturalists. “These include serious deficiencies and flaws in the Dec. 19, 2013 Joint Review Panel report upon which the cabinet decision is based.”
Legal counsel for the naturalists is the Environmental Law Centre (ELC) at the University of Victoria.
“Filing this lawsuit will ensure that the Federal Court of Appeal is able to hear and consider arguments relating to all of the various flaws and deficiencies associated with Northern Gateway approval process,” said Chris Tollefson, ELC Executive Director and B.C. Nature’s lawyer.
“B.C. Nature has been involved in the process from Day One,” said B.C. Nature president Kees Visser. “We cannot stand by and allow cabinet to approve this ill-conceived project on the basis of a JRP report that is so flawed and incomplete.”
Today’s cabinet decision accepts the joint review panel’s recommendations and findings and allows the project to proceed subject to the provincial government granting the project the necessary provincial permits and other approvals.
The lawsuit challenging the cabinet’s decision must be filed in the Federal Court of Appeal in the next 15 days.
Several lawsuits, based largely on process, have been threatened by First Nations.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Read the June 17 post here; http://lailayuile.com/ There is more to the Northern Gateway project than meets the eyes. It is even suggested that NG is just the smoke and mirror to hide the real agenda for moving oil to the coast. The comments on this post are always a worthwhile read to.
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Key words,” bitumin from the tar sands ” and cleanup problems , Kalamazoo is there as a example of the differences between oil and dilbit .
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“world-leading marine oil spill response,” spill prevention,
I read recently that the average amount of an oil spill cleaned up was 7%, leaving 93% still to be dealt with. Does anyone have any more information on this?
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