Don’t expect bulldozers anytime soon along the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline route.

 

That’s the message from legal experts and environmentalists reacting to the federal government’s approval of Enbridge’s pipeline to transport Alberta oil to ship from B.C.’s coast.

 

“Lawyers will be scrambling to launch actions,” said Gordon Christie, director of the Indigenous legal studies program at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Law, in an interview Tuesday.

 

Christie anticipates some of the more complicated cases involving First Nation land rights and consultation could go all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. This could take years, he said.

 

Injunctions against protesters are another legal tactic Christie expects the government and Enbridge to use once construction gets started. (That won’t happen for at least a few months, as Enbridge must meet the 209 conditions first.)

 

If protesters try to block work, Christie anticipates the government will work with the company to stop them through the courts, a process that only takes days or weeks.

 

But with all the planned opposition, he’s less than optimistic that the pipeline will ever be built.

 

“I anticipate something like Clayoquot Sound in the late 80s,” he said, where protesters blocked logging roads, ultimately forcing the government to meet some of their demands. “I suspect this will be even more of a problem for the government then that was.”

 

“We are deeply disappointed, but you need to look no further than the spate of legal challenges filed against this project to know that Cabinet’s approval is by no means a guarantee that this project will ever be built,” agreed Ecojustice staff lawyer Barry Robinson in a statement.

 

Meantime, environmental organizations joined First Nations in denouncing the decision and saying they will do everything in their power to stop the pipeline.

 

“While Enbridge has overcome another hurdle with this federal approval, the company continues to face a wall of opposition in B.C. that won’t come down until Northern Gateway is dead,” said a statement from Nikki Skuce of ForestEthics Advocacy.

 

David Suzuki, the Wilderness Committee and the Dogwood Initiative also condemned the federal government’s decision. Groups are planning for civil disobedience and are trying to force a province-wide vote on the pipeline.