National Energy Board to open Metro office
Local staff will do community outreach and pipeline inspections, says chairman
The Calgary- based National Energy Board will open a satellite office in Metro Vancouver next year dedicated to community engagement, pipeline audits and inspections as a way to improve the federal agency’s battered public image in B. C. resulting from the Kinder Morgan and Enbridge pipeline controversies.
Peter Watson, a former senior civil servant in Alberta who was named $ 309,000- a- year chairman of the NEB in June, told The Vancouver Sun in an exclusive interview Thursday that he brings a “fresh set of eyes” to the way his office has traditionally operated.
“There is a real need for us to get out into communities across the country and connect with people,” he said in Vancouver during a Canadian tour. “We have perhaps been comfortable just toiling away inside our office much the way we’ve done the past 30 to 40 years.
Watson envisions a small office with fewer than 10 staff whose job will be to “establish relationships with local communities and stakeholders” as well as conduct inspections and audits and to serve as the NEB’s “front line people” for local operations and issues.
“A lot of people may not understand we regulate the life cycle of the infrastructure. We’re not just the people that show up and run this very rule-bound process to come to a decision or recommendation on a project.”
Funding for the satellite office will come from the NEB’s annual budget of $ 84 million. Another satellite office is under consideration at an undetermined location in Eastern Canada.
Watson’s announcement follows the arrest of more than 100 protesters last month on Burnaby Mountain, where the NEB granted Kinder Morgan the right to conduct exploratory work for a potential route for its planned twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline from Alberta. Civil contempt charges were thrown out after Kinder Morgan admitted it provided incorrect GPS co- ordinates when it initially sought a court order.
Sierra Club B. C. spokesman Tim Pearson said the problem is “not a failure to communicate,” but a systemic problem with the NEB process.
“Pipelines don’t have social licence right now,” he said. “What you’ve seen on Burnaby Mountain is clearly a function of peoples’ frustration that the process is rigged and designed to give the outcome that the federal government wants, which is approval of the Kinder Morgan pipeline.”
Vancouver Coun. Andrea Reimer said a local office is long overdue given the presence of infrastructure overseen by the NEB. “However, that doesn’t change the fact that there is a massive expansion proposal that would see 340 more tankers a year in our waters — a seven- fold increase. As well, it doesn’t change the fact that hundreds of residents have been denied a direct voice in the NEB process with even less opportunity than concerned citizens had in the Northern Gateway hearings.”
Lynne Quarmby, a biochemistry professor at Simon Fraser University who was arrested on Burnaby Mountain, agreed: “( Public relations) is not their problem. Their process is broken and no amount of PR is going to repair that.”
The NEB is beset by lawsuits from municipalities, environmentalists and aboriginal groups related both to Kinder Morgan as well as the Enbridge Northern Gateway project, which the NEB approved with 209 conditions in June despite widespread opposition in B. C.
Watson said it’s important to realize that the NEB’s job is to step back and consider whether a project is in the greater “public interest” despite local community concerns. “Are we, as Canada, going to be better off with or without it?” he said.
“I understand people feel strongly about the issues in their communities, about the issues around energy and development. It’s a difficult challenge for us and we recognize that won’t always line up with everybody’s specific interests.”
Watson most recently served as deputy minister of the Alberta Executive Council and was named Person of the Year in 2011 by the Alberta Chamber of Resources — a who’s who of oil companies headed by an Enbridge executive. He has also served as Alberta’s deputy environment minister.
“I’m a career public servant,” he
A lot of people may not understand we regulate the life cycle of the infrastructure. PETER WATSON CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL ENERGY BOARD
responded. “My entire focus ... has been understanding the range of issues and being neutral and unbiased in the nature of advice I bring forward to governments.”
The chairman of the NEB panel reviewing the Kinder Morgan project is David Hamilton, who served as deputy minister and clerk of the Northwest Territories legislature for 20 years.
The other two panelists are Philip Davies, who has more than 30 years of experience in acquiring, constructing and operating energy projects in North America’s oil, gas and electric power industries, and Alison Scott, a career civil servant with the Nova Scotia government who has served as deputy minister of energy and intergovernmental affairs.
Watson said there are strict conflictof- interest policies in place at the NEB. If the panel requires more time to study Kinder Morgan, Watson said he “wouldn’t hesitate” to seek an extension, while realizing that it is important to have a timely, efficient process. “Markets and investments don’t always wait,” he said.
Watson said he has no immediate plans to meet with the mayors of Vancouver and Burnaby, who are opposed to the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion, but would be happy to do so during his next visit in the new year.