WHEREAS the Environmental Assessment Office of the Province of British Columbia the EAO entered into an Agreement in 2010 with the National Energy Board NEB under which the EAO accepts that the NEB assessment of a pipeline constitutes the equivalent of an assessment under the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Act; AND WHEREAS Trans Mountains responses to motions filed in early July 2014 by intervenors in the NEB hearing process for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project demonstrate that Trans Mountain is failing to adequately respond to written information requests, which are the only opportunity for intervenors to test and clarify Trans Mountains evidence; AND WHEREAS this failure to respond to written information requests means that intervenors are not able to properly prepare their own evidence and participate meaningfully in the assessment process for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, in contravention of the preamble to the Agreement, which states that any assessment of a project pursuant to the National Energy Board Act would take into account any comments submitted during the assessment process by the public and Aboriginal peoples: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the UBCM request that the Province direct the EAO to withdraw formally from the Agreement pursuant to Clause 6 thereof and undertake its own Environmental Assessment process for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, which should include sufficient opportunity for meaningful participation by all interested British Columbians.
Environmental Assessment Office The Province of British Columbia is committed to ensuring that the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, if it does go ahead, satisfies the highest standards of environmental protection and protects British Columbia from financial and environmental risk. Any heavy oil pipeline project must satisfy the Provinces five conditions before BC will consider supporting it. BCs five conditions for any heavy oil pipeline are: - Successful completion of an environmental assessment; - Establishment of world-leading marine oil spill response, prevention and recovery systems for BCs coastline and ocean; - Establishment of world-leading land oil spill prevention, response and recovery systems; - Legal requirements regarding Aboriginal and treaty rights are addressed and First Nations are provided with the opportunities, information and resources to participate and benefit from the project; - BC receives a fair share of the fiscal and economic benefits. The Province is an intervenor in the NEBs review of the project and has been actively representing the interests of the people of BC. Intervenors can submit Information Requests, file written evidence, bring motions and submit final arguments. The Province has been reviewing the information that was filed by Kinder Morgan, has filed a first round of information requests and will follow up with a second round of Information Requests in order to obtain the information it requires. The Province has also been meeting regularly with Kinder Morgan to ensure that all aspects of their proposal are understood and to make issues of importance to British Columbians known to the company. This review is being run entirely under the authority of the National Energy Board. The Board sets the process for the reviews it conducts.
Minister of Natural Resources The National Energy Board already conducts public hearing processes that are tailored to meet the needs of each application. The Board conducts scientific and rigorous reviews that include extensive consultations with parties that may be directly affected by the proposed pipeline and those with relevant expertise. The Board provides participant funding to support meaningful public participation in its regulatory process. The Boards final report must include terms and conditions in order for the project to be constructed. The federal government will carefully consider the Boards report before making a final decision on whether to approve the project. Additional information regarding the Boards review process may be found at www.neb.gc.ca. The federal government has been clear that new pipelines will only be approved if they are proven safe for the public and the environment.