Province may appeal NEB pipeline ruling
Minister says Kinder Morgan found way to ‘short-circuit’ permit-approval process
The B.C. government says it may appeal a decision by the National Energy Board that established a process for the national regulator to adjudicate permitting disputes between Kinder Morgan and provinces and municipalities over the $7.9-billion Trans Mountain expansion.
The decision, released Thursday, came after Kinder Morgan put a motion forward over its complaints that permits were being unnecessarily delayed for the oil-pipeline project, pointing to issues in Burnaby, a municipality that opposes the project.
On Friday, B.C. Environment Minister George Heyman said the decision angers him and it amounts to a licence to walk over B.C.’s rights to determine whether Kinder Morgan has met its permit requirements.
“We are looking at this decision to see if there are grounds for appeal,” he said. “We may not think this is a good project for B.C. — and we don’t — but we are not going to improperly use the permitting process to frustrate it.
“But we are going to ensure that the standards British Columbians expect to be met will be met. And what Kinder Morgan has done with the assistance of the NEB is found a way to short-circuit the process.”
Heyman said if there are delays it’s because Kinder Morgan doesn’t understand permit requirements in B.C., which include adequate consultations with First Nations.
The NEB decision sets out a “generic” process for the national-regulatory agency to become involved in examining a dispute, a process that would take three to five weeks. The NEB said it expects that to happen rarely.
Kinder Morgan didn’t get all it asked for: a tighter timeline and a standing panel.
The company, however, said it was pleased with the NEB decision.
“Provision of a process that is open, fair and provides certainty for all parties is good news and is an important component of the assurances we need for the successful execution of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project,” Kinder Morgan Canada president Ian Anderson said in a written statement.
The NEB said it still expects all sides to go through the permitting process in good faith.
“This generic process will provide a measure of certainty regarding the regulatory tools available to resolve permitting disputes or disagreements in limited circumstances where Trans Mountain and provincial and municipal authorities are unable to do so,” the NEB said in a release.
Just this week, Kinder Morgan said permitting uncertainty could delay the project completion by 12 months to the end of 2020.
Some work has started on its marine terminal at Burnaby, but little work has begun on the 980 kilometres of pipeline needed to triple pipeline capacity and tap into markets overseas in Asia and on the U.S. West Coast for crude from the Alberta oilsands.
The controversial project faces significant opposition from First Nations, environmental groups and Lower Mainland municipalities, including Vancouver. Opponents are concerned about the risk of an oil spill in B.C.’s inland waters, and greenhouse-gas emissions from the extraction and use of the oil.
Supporters that include oil-producers, business groups and some unions argue Canada needs to diversify its oil markets away from the U.S. and spill risks are manageable.
B.C. municipalities made submissions against the proposal for an NEB process to hear permitting disputes, with Chilliwack expressing concern the company may use it as a pressure mechanism or as leverage against the city.
Surrey said the motion is an attempt to unlawfully fetter, circumvent and undermine the legislative scheme to the detriment of municipalities.
The federal government and Alberta supported the proposal as a way to address compliance oversight.