NDP government joins battle against pipeline
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Vancouver Courier
Intervenor status sought, longtime legal expert hired to fight Kinder Morgan
The NDP government announced Thursday that it will seek intervenor status in ongoing court challenges related to Kinder Morgan’s Alberta-to-Burnaby pipeline proposal and rely on the legal expertise of former B.C. Supreme Court justice Thomas Berger to guide its actions to stop the project.
The move is an attempt by the newly elected government to make good on its campaign promise to use “every tool available” to stop the 987-kilometre pipeline from being built, despite the National Energy Board and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government having given it the green light.
Approval for the pipeline was also granted by the previous B.C. Liberal government, which said the project met its five conditions, including protecting the environment, consultation with First Nations and the province getting its “fair share” of economic benefits from the $7.4-billion project.
Both Environment Minister George Heyman and Attorney General David Eby acknowledged the challenge ahead for the B.C. government to scuttle a project that the federal government reiterated Thursday is in the “national interest.”
“We know with the federal government’s approval of this project, that the path forward will be challenging,” Heyman told reporters gathered at government offices in downtown Vancouver. “But we’re committed to stepping up and fighting for B.C.’s interests. We will, as we’ve stated repeatedly, use every tool available to defend B.C.’s coast in the face of this threat.”
One of those tools is seeking intervenor status in the National Energy Board judicial review in federal court, where 21 parties are challenging the agency’s “process and decision,” said Eby, who described the Kinder Morgan file as “fast moving, legally speaking.” The review goes ahead in November.
As well, the Squamish First Nation has a court challenge related to inadequate consultation by Kinder Morgan on its project, which proposes to almost triple the number of barrels of oil shipped per day from Edmonton to the shores of Burrard Inlet, increasing from 300,000 to 890,000. Tanker traffic will increase seven times from what it is now. No trial date has been set in that case.
Heyman, whose opening remarks including acknowledging he was on the unceded homelands of the Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam and Squamish First Nations, said the government will fulfill its duty of “meaningful consultation” with First Nations.
That consultation will include what potential impacts the project could have on Aboriginal rights and title — an area Berger is well versed in, having acted on behalf of the Nisga’a Nation in 1973 to argue for recognition of Aboriginal land title rights.
Berger, who is in his 80s, was also head of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry and recommended the pipeline be put on hold, largely because of opposition from Aboriginal groups in the region. Berger is aware of the politics surrounding pipeline projects, having once served as the provincial NDP leader in the 1960s.
Heyman said until consultation related to First Nations are “completed in a way that meets B.C.’s legal obligations, work on this project on public lands cannot proceed.” He said the majority of the project is on public and First Nations lands.
Kinder Morgan must complete required environmental management plans related to consultation with First Nations, protection of grizzly bears, vegetation and weed management, archeology, cold water aquifer and “workforce accommodations impacts,” said Heyman, adding that only three of the eight management plans have been accepted.
“Until those plans are completed, Kinder Morgan — with the exception of private land, and with the exception of some clearing of right-of-way — cannot put shovels in the ground,” he said.
Despite the government’s push for more consultation with First Nations, dozens of bands along the route and private land owners have signed agreements with Kinder Morgan, which has said it plans to begin construction in the fall.
Kinder Morgan released a statement after the government’s news conference, saying it remains “ready and willing to meet with the government to work through their concerns and the issues” raised by Heyman and Eby.
“We are committed to working with the province and permitting authorities in our ongoing process of seeking and obtaining necessary permits and permissions,” said Ian Anderson, president of Kinder Morgan Canada Limited, in the statement. “We have undertaken thorough, extensive and meaningful consultations with Aboriginal peoples, communities and individuals and remain dedicated to those efforts and relationships as we move forward with consultation activities in September.”
The company has projected 15,000 construction jobs will be created as the project proceeds.
Alexandre Deslongchamps, a spokesman for federal Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr, said in an email to the Courier the government’s decision to approve the pipeline “was based on facts and on evidence and what is in the national interest.”
“We look forward to working with every province and territory to ensure a strong future for Canadians, but the facts and evidence do not change,” Deslongchamps said. “Growing a strong economy for the future requires taking leadership on the environment and we have done exactly that. That is what drove us in the choices we made and we will stand by those choices.”
Rich Coleman, the leader of the opposition B.C. Liberals, also released a statement, saying the NDP’s move “continues to drive home to investors that our province is not open for business or investment of any kind.”
“British Columbians should be rightly concerned that their government is spending tax dollars to stop a project that will not only boost our local economies but also benefit the rest of our country,” Coleman said. “They should also be concerned the B.C. NDP have unilaterally declared the First Nations consultations are incomplete, even though the federal government has said the consultation was appropriate before they approved the project.”
Greenpeace, the Wilderness Committee and the West Coast Environmental Law Association issued statements Thursday welcoming the NDP government’s move to use legal means to review the pipeline project. All three organizations noted how Kinder Morgan has yet to obtain the necessary permits to proceed with construction.
“We’re beyond relieved that Kinder Morgan won’t be able to put shovels in the ground next month,” said Peter McCartney of the Wilderness Committee. “But even if the courts fail to stop this pipeline, the citizens of British Columbia are preparing to do what it takes.”
Photo by Dan Toulgoet
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Will George (left) outside the Supreme Court of British Columbia (Peter McCartney)