NEB agrees to consider LNG Canada pipeline jurisdictional challenge

The National Energy Board says it will consider a jurisdictional challenge of a pipeline approval that is a key component in a recently sanctioned $40-billion liquefied natural gas export facility in British Columbia.

The federal regulator says it will accept submissions until next Monday from challenger Mike Sawyer, the provincial and federal governments, and other parties on whether the 670-kilometre pipeline should be considered a federal project.

If it is, it will require National Energy Board approval to proceed, making approval of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. project from the British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission insufficient.

LNG Canada announced earlier this month that it was going ahead with a plant in Kitimat on B.C.’s coast with the pipeline delivering natural gas from the northeast corner of the province.

The energy board says Sawyer’s jurisdictional challenge was received in July, comment was then provided by Coastal (a subsidiary of TransCanada Corp.), and Sawyer was allowed to reply.

It says Sawyer argues that because TransCanada operates the pipeline and the connected Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. system together, they are in fact a single federal undertaking.

In reply, according to the NEB, Coastal accuses Sawyer of pursuing a “vexatious” litigation designed to frustrate upstream natural gas development in B.C., further charging it’s not a coincidence that his complaint was made as the project was finally proceeding, not years ago when it was approved.

LNG Canada’s five partners — Royal Dutch Shell, Mitsubishi Corp., Malaysianowned Petronas, PetroChina Co. and Korean Gas Corp. — had delayed the final investment decision on the project in 2016, citing a drop in natural gas prices.