Province won’t stall on pipeline permits

VANCOUVER — British Columbia’s attorney general says the NDP government will not artificially delay permits for the Trans Mountain pipeline, despite the premier’s vow to use every available tool to stop the project.

David Eby said he’s been tasked by Premier John Horgan to identify options to halt Kinder Morgan Canada’s $7.4-billion expansion of its Alberta-to-B.C. pipeline, which has already been approved by Ottawa and the previous B.C. government.

Eby said the province cannot deliberately stall permits without risking a very costly lawsuit, but it can ensure that permits require that construction be done in a way that minimizes spills, protects the environment and ensures appropriate cleanup.

“I’ve been tasked by the premier to identify our options. There is an important piece to that, which is that we must do so within the laws of British Columbia and Canada, because if we don’t, we’ll be sued,” Eby told a Kamloops radio station.

“We’ll end up paying hundreds of millions of dollars that should be going to schools and hospitals to an oil company and that is not a goal that anybody’s looking for.”

Trans Mountain, a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Canada, declined comment on Eby’s remarks, but said it’s in an ongoing process of seeking and receiving permits from the necessary agencies, as construction of the project is phased.

Eby did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Horgan’s NDP won 41 seats in the province’s May 9 election, shy of the 44 needed to mount a majority. But the Greens, who hold three seats, signed an agreement to support the New Democrats in a minority government.

The agreement states the government will “immediately employ every tool available to stop” the pipeline expansion.

A mandate letter issued by Horgan to Environment Minister George Heyman on Monday softens the language slightly, saying instead that he must employ every tool available to “defend B.C.’s interests in the face of” the expansion.