Five environmental groups are set to announce a new lawsuit against the federal government Wednesday centred on the risk they say the Northern Gateway pipeline project poses to local endangered species.

The groups say their case focuses on four species that live along the path of the proposed pipeline and the shipping route where vast quantities of bitumen would eventually be transported.

Gwen Barlee of the Wilderness Committee, one of the organizations behind the suit, said those species include Nechako sturgeon, marbled murrelet, mountain caribou and humpback whales.

“Obviously a spill would be devastating for many of the whales that live in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of British Columbia between acoustic disturbances, spills and even ship strikes,” Barlee said. “We can’t take that risk.”

Legal action has worked before; the Wilderness Committee and eight other groups previously took the federal government to court for failing to protect orca habitats. Though the groups won, they say litigation is a last resort.

“We’re tired of it. We have better ways to spend our time and money than asking the federal government to enforce their own environmental legislation and protect species at risk,” Barlee asid.

The other groups helping to launch the latest lawsuit include the David Suzuki Foundation, Greenpeace Canada, Sierra Club B.C. and Wildsight.

Hearings are currently underway in Edmonton over the $6-billion Northern Gateway pipeline.

The National Energy Board’s joint review panel is currently considering economic issues, and potential environmental impacts won’t be addressed until the hearings move to Prince George next month.

Photo: The Pacific humpback whale is one of the species named in the litigation, as its habitat would be affected by the Northern Gateway route. Photo by Art Wolfe.