The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition TransCanada's $11-billion Energy East pipeline project has run into another stumbling block in Quebec as public opposition mounts over a possible threat to the endangered St. Lawrence beluga whales. The Globe's Bertrand Marotte writes TransCanada is still awaiting provincial government permission to continue its exploratory and drilling work on a planned export terminal at Cacouna, a key calving site for the belugas, even though a temporary court injunction was lifted on Oct. 15. TransCanada wants to start work before the ice forms on the river and submitted to Quebec's Environment Ministry a revised plan for noise abatement and other measures to protect the belugas Wednesday, but has not heard back. Oct. 15 is viewed as the end of the mother belugas' calving period. TransCanada argues it pro-actively increased the exclusion zone for marine mammals before receiving the notice of non-compliance and it had obtained all proper procedures in obtaining authorization. The work permit expires at the end of November. The Cacouna project is "in the heart of the belugas' vital habitat," said Michel Belanger, at Nature Quebec. "This [project] could be fatal for them."