The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that for all the political clamouring from municipalities and provinces opposed to various pipeline projects, in reality they may lack any legal leverage to stop the projects or insist on conditions. The Globe's guest columnist Julius Melnitzer cites constitutional law professor Dwight Newman of the University of Saskatchewan, who says: "The feds pretty well have exclusive jurisdiction over pipelines. The case law has long been clear that provinces cannot exercise their jurisdiction in ways that interfere with interprovincial transportation, including pipelines, so the final decision on projects like [TransCanada's] Energy East rests with Ottawa." Montreal mayor Dennis Coderre has been particularly vocal in his opposition to Energy East. Environmentalists are concerned about spills and about the impact of the pipeline on Canada's greenhouse gas emissions. For its part, the Burnaby went beyond vocal a few years ago when it denied Trans Mountain Pipeline ULC access to city-owned lands to complete studies ordered by the National Energy Board. Trans Mountain, however, successfully obtained an order from the NEB permitting access to Burnaby's territory.