The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that six weeks before the National Energy Board was due to make a recommendation on the Trans Mountain pipeline, the company behind the project was told a British Columbia provincial environmental assessment will now be required. The Globe's Mark Hume writes that B.C.'s Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) put up a new hurdle when it advised Kinder Morgan Canada president Ian Anderson that the expansion project will have to pass provincial scrutiny before it can proceed. In a letter dated March 17, EAO associate deputy minister Kevin Jardine informed Mr. Anderson that because of a B.C. Supreme Court decision related to Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway project, the province cannot assign environmental assessment responsibilities solely to the NEB. Mr. Jardine wrote: "Specifically, the court ruled that B.C.'s Environmental Assessment Act applies to NEB projects to the extent that they require a provincial environmental assessment certificate. We have reviewed descriptions of the Trans Mountain expansion project (TMX) that Kinder Morgan Canada has submitted to the NEB and are of the view that TMX is a reviewable project."