Feds will wait for Enbridge response

OTTAWA —Heritage Minister James Moore, the senior Conservative in B.C., said the federal government would not intercede in the debate over the Northern Gateway pipeline.

“We believe in waiting for the environmental assessment to come back and letting science drive this,” Moore said.

“The provincial government put forward their standards for any pipeline to be built in the province of B.C., and we agree with those. We agree with the province and the need to protect our natural environment and to balance that with our responsibility to grow the Canadian economy.”

But Moore also hinted the federal government may not care if the Enbridge route is rejected by the province.

“We’ll see what Enbridge’s response is going forward. But there are many pathways for Canadian resources to get out of the country and we will see if Enbridge will look for other opportunities.”

The Harper government, in legislative changes adopted last year, has given the federal cabinet final say on whether to approve major pipeline projects in the “national interest” — including the Northern Gateway — stripping the power from the National Energy Board.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has maintained science, not politics, will ultimately determine whether the Northern Gateway pipeline proceeds.

“The federal government awaits the recommendation of the Joint Review Panel and will base our decision on science,” Harper’s director of communications, Andrew MacDougall, said Friday in a statement. “The objective of diversifying our export markets for energy remains a critical priority for our government.”

The federal Conservative government has set a Dec. 31, 2013 deadline for the joint review panel to submit its environmental assessment and report on the project.

NDP natural resources critic Peter Julian, a British Columbia MP, says the province’s decision is a recognition thousands of fisheries and tourism jobs in northern B.C. could be threatened by the pipeline and any potential oil spill.