CBC Radio Day 6 - Interview with CAEPLA CEO & Director, Dave Core

Coming on the heels of the Federal cabinet's decision to approve the Enbridge Northern Gateway project, CBC Day 6's Brent Bambury interviewed Dave Core, the CEO and Director of CAEPLA (Canadian Association of Energy and Pipeline Landowner Associations).  Listen to Core explain what happens when the land agent comes knocking at: What the pipeline decision could mean for private landowners.

Joint Review Panel Report on Northern Gateway Pipeline to be released on December 19

The Joint Review Panel (NEB) will release its report on the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline on December 19, 2013 at 2:30 Calgary time. 

NEB asked to fast track Northern Gateway decision

In a letter dated August 7, 2012 to the Joint Review Panel (consisting of three members, two of whom are members of the NEB) hearing the Enbridge application for the Northern Gateway Pipeline, the CEO of the National Energy Board (NEB), Gaetan Caron, has asked that Panel "explore opportunities to submit your report as early as possible prior to the expiry of the time limit."  The time limit reference is to the December 31, 2013 deadline for a report to Cabinet set by the federal government.  Mr. Caron reminds the Panel of this deadline, but also appears to invite the Panel to take active steps to speed up the process.

Read the NEB letter at: August 7, 2012.

Minister Oliver puts Joint Review Panel members in awkward position

Read the article by Professor Nigel Bankes that discusses the January 9, 2012 "open letter" from the Hon. Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources (click here).  This is the letter in which Mr. Oliver referred to "radicals" who will "hijack our regulatory system".  Professor Bankes wonders about the effect of the letter on the ongoing regulatory process:

For example, put yourself in the position of a JRP panel member. What would you think if the Minister responsible for the Board announced that: (1) the current system is broken, and (2) the NGP is clearly and obviously in the national interest (aka public convenience and necessity) the day before you had to open the hearings in one of the most affected communities? And more importantly, imagine the challenge facing that panel in convincing the community that the fix was not already in and that the job of the panel was to conduct a careful, independent and impartial review of the project.

The Expert's Report that Damns the Northern Gateway Pipeline

Andrew Nikiforuk has reviewed a report prepared for the Northern Gateway Pipeline hearing in a recent article for The Tyee.  The report was prepared by veteran energy analyst David Hughes on behalf of an organization intervening in the approval hearing for the project.  Hughes will be testifying at the hearing.  He suggests that tripling oil sands production rates above 2010 levels will "compromised the long-term energy security interests of Canadians, as well as their environmental interests".

Read Nikiforuk's article at: The Tyee.

Read the Hughes report at: The Northern Gateway Pipeline.

B.C. MLA challenges NEB on changes to its Strategic Plan

Gary Coons, the MLA for North Coast in British Columbia, has sent a letter to the National Energy Board (NEB) expressing his concerns about changes to the NEB's Strategic Plan language.  He notes a number of significant changes, including the replacement of the NEB's mission statement.  Previously, the NEB sought to "promote safety, security, environmental protection and efficient energy infrastructure and markets in the Canadian public interest".  The NEB now says that "WE REGULATE PIPELINES, ENERGY DEVELOPMENT AND TRADE IN THE CANADIAN PUBLIC INTEREST".  Coons asks whether this change signifies that safety, security and environmental proteciton are no longer within the NEB's mandate.  Coons also notes that the Board has removed the language referring to the "responsible development" of the energy industry.  He says that these changes are of particular concern in the context of the ongoing Enbridge Northern Gateway Project application and in the context of growing public concern about the influence of "big oil" interests on government.

Kinder Morgan Canada continues to oppose Enbridge Northern Gateway application as deficient

Kinder Morgan Canada (KMC) has written to the Joint Review Panel (NEB) hearing the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline application to propose that a preliminary issue be decided before the review process continues.  The preliminary issue is as follows:

Can the Panel consider the Application and carry out its mandate and responsibilities for conducting the environmental assessment of the Project under the Panel Agreement if there is no demonstration of market support for the Project and it does not comply with the National Energy Board's filing requirement of demonstrating economic feasibility and need?

KMC suggests that there are at least three grounds for deferring consideration of the application:

1. Failure to comply with the NEB Filing Manual Requirements for Section 52 Applications;
2. Adverse impacts on pipeline competition;
3. Inability of the Panel to discharge its obligations under the Panel Agreement

KMC says that the record provided to the Joint Panel by Enbridge is deficient:

The joint review panel process is the most intensive type of environmental assessment in Canada.  For the Panel to be afforded the best evidentiary record, all parties must be provided with sufficient information to test whether the proposed facilities are needed and necessary and in the public interest.  The absence of this contractual information means there is a real and unnecessary risk that the joint review process would become inefficient and wasting the significant resources of not only the Panel, but also of all of the participants in this proceeding.

Read the KMC letter at: KMC letter dated September 8, 2010.

Joint Review Panel asking for comments on Enbridge Northern Gateway Application

The Joint Review Panel created to hear Enbridge's application for the Northern Gateway Pipeline has released a procedural order requesting comments from interested parties:

The entire procedural direction can be viewed at: Joint Panel Procedural Direction.

While the order requires that Enbridge serve a number of parties with a copy of the order, there still seems to be no requirement that Enbridge notify affected non-Aboriginal landowners directly regarding the Joint Review Panel process or this comment submission process. 

Written comments must be received by the Panel no later than September 8, 2010.  There will also be three panel sessions held to hear oral comments.  The dates for the sessions and deadlines for registration are set out in the order.

If you're a landowner along the proposed route, or know someone who is, you can find out more about how landowners may be affected by the pipeline and what they can do to respond by contacting the Canadian Association of Energy and Pipeline Landowner Associations (CAEPLA). Visit CAEPLA's website at: http://www.landownerassociation.ca/.

BC Residents oppose Enbridge Northern Gateway tankers, poll indicates

Kitimat Sentinel - Residents oppose tankers, poll indicates

An opinion poll commissioned by two groups opposing Enbridge’s planned Northern Gateway pipeline suggests the project isn’t being accepted...

Click on the link above to read the Kitimat Sentinel article.

Kinder Morgan challenges whether NEB should entertain the Enbridge Northern Gateway application

Kinder Morgan Canada (KMC) says that Enbridge's recently-filed Northern Gateway Application lacks the necessary evidence of commercial support for the project, meaning that Enbridge has not demonstrated the need for the project.  KMC's lawyer writes to the National Energy Board in his June 1, 2010 letter:

KMC respectfully submits the filed Northern Gateway application is incomplete and does not comply with the requirements of section 52 of the National Energy Board Act ("NEB Act") or the filing requirements.  Notably, the application is not supported by a successful open season process, nor is the application supported with any level of binding commercial support to demonstrate the need and necessity of the applied-for facilities.  In fact, in late 2005 Northern Gateway held open seasons for both the oil pipeline and condensate pipeline, respectively, and although Northern Gateway received "expressions of interest", this did not result in any binding shipping commitments.  In KMC's view, these shortfalls represent serious deficiencies and do not meet the Board's test for economic feasibility set out in the Alliance Pipeline decision.  Without at least some real and substantial evidence of need and necessity, the application appears to be intended to provide the applicant some type of competitive advantage so that it may pursue commercial support that it has not been able to achieve to date.  It appears to KMC that Enbridge is pursuing approval in advance of a demonstrated need for the project in order to create an "option to build" and use that option as part of its marketing process.

For these and other reasons, KMC has requested that the NEB defer further consideration of the Enbridge application until sufficient evidence of need for the project has been presented.

Enbridge files application with National Energy Board for Northern Gateway Pipeline

Enbridge Pipelines Inc. has filed its application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the National Energy Board (NEB) for the Northern Gateway Pipeline Project.  The massive application document in 8 volumes is available at the following links: Volumes 1-3; Volumes 4-5; and, Volumes 6-8.

If you're a landowner along the proposed route, or know someone who is, you can find out more about how landowners may be affected by the pipeline and what they can do to respond by contacting the Canadian Association of Energy and Pipeline Landowner Associations (CAEPLA).  Visit CAEPLA's website at: http://www.landownerassociation.ca/.

NEB Joint Review Panel selected for Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline

Canada's Environment Minister Jim Prentice and the National Energy Board have appointed a three-member panel to review the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline project. Two of the three appointees are members of the NEB: Sheila Leggett and Kenneth Bateman (Hans Matthews is the other). Of note, both Leggett and Bateman sat on the panels that heard and decided GH-5-2008 TransCanada's NOVA Application (transfer of jurisdiction from Alberta to Federal) and heard the Stream 3 Abandonment Funding hearing.

The NEB's announcement of the appointments can be viewed at:
http://www.neb-one.gc.ca/clf-nsi/rthnb/nwsrls/2010/nrthrngtwjrpstblshmnt-eng.pdf