Hearing over controversial pipeline resumes at B.C. top court

Arguments over the extension of the environmental assessment certificate for a natural gas pipeline in B.C. resumed in court on Friday with lawyers for Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs telling a judge an evaluation is needed on the potential risk of violence to Indigenous women and girls.

Lawyers for the Office of the Wet’suwet’en are seeking an order in B.C. Supreme Court quashing the decision to extend the certificate for Coastal GasLink’s 670-kilometre pipeline project, which has been the source of national protests.

They argued in part that B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office did not meaningfully address the findings of the 2019 report from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls when it approved the extension.

They also pointed to more than 50 instances of Coastal Gaslink’s failure to adhere to existing conditions throughout last year, arguing it’s not clear whether the company’s track record of non-compliance was considered by the director when making the decision.

They said on Thursday the regulatory agency has the power to attach new conditions when it extends a certificate under B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Act.

Counsel for the Environmental Assessment Office disputed their interpretation of the legislation on Friday, telling the court that its executive director already has the power to amend the conditions of a certificate outside the scope of an extension application.

Karrie Wolfe also argued that quashing the extension of Coastal GasLink’s certificate could leave the pipeline that’s under construction in northern B.C. in a “vacuum,” since the original certificate expired last October. If the decision is quashed, she said there would be no certificate to attach conditions to.

Caily DiPuma, counsel for the Office of the Wet’suwet’en, suggested an alternative remedy could be an interim injunction pausing construction until the regulator reconsiders its decision.

“The risk of violence and harm to Indigenous women and girls persists today and every day the project construction continues without a proper assessment of that harm and mitigation as necessary,” she told the court on Friday.