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."
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