Feds blasted as pipeline hearings wrap up
The federal government took the brunt of the fire from interveners on Monday morning as the environmental hearings into the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline wrapped up in Terrace.
Some First Nations and environmental groups accused the federal government of trying to introduce new evidence into the National Energy Board hearings after the deadline for evidence had closed.
"It appears the federal government doesn't have to adhere to the regulations of the Joint Review Panel process," Douglas Channel Watch representative Cheryl Brown said.
Brown and others said claims made last week by federal government lawyer Jim Shaw that new money has been made available for pipeline inspections and that recent legislation has strengthened the regulatory process was never officially submitted as evidence and should be ignored by the panel in the decision making process.
Brown said the federal government was akin to a proponent in the plan to connect northern Alberta's oilsands with an export facility in Kitimat, but by registering as a government participant they faced less scrutiny.
The B.C. provincial government got in on the act, asking the three-member panel to make its decision solely on the evidence before it. Speaking about the federal government's tanker safety commitments, provincial government lawyer Christopher Jones said the panel should be wary about its usefulness and asked them to "disregard those arguments not supported by the evidence."
Ecojustice lawyer Barry Robinson, representing a coalition of environmental groups, told the panel that not only should claims about strengthened protections be excluded due to evidentiary rules, he said the new policies have actually weakened standards by limiting who can participate in proceedings and setting time limits for hearings.
Last week, Shaw also renewed a federal government pledge to conduct more research on the buoyancy of diluted bitumen, but Brown said the promise is akin to the government asking those skeptical about the properties of the substance to trust them.
In Monday's arguments, the interveners were only allowed to respond to other oral arguments that occurred after they last spoke, which meant none of them could challenge Northern Gateway's arguments. All the groups had the chance to rebut the proponent's argument during their first final argument last week.
The Joint Review Panel took its fair share of criticism from interveners on Monday, with the lion's share coming from Coastal First Nations executive director Art Sterritt. He argued the panel has favoured those supporting the $6.5 billion project and been unduly harsh on organizations like his who have opposed it.
Sterritt cited his own final argument from last week where panel chairwoman Sheila Leggett repeatedly cautioned him for veering off topic, but he said the Alexander First Nation violated the rules when making its statements tacitly in favour of the project without a single interruption from the panel.
Sterritt said the panel has seen democracy in action during the last two years and encouraged them to take that into account.
"Use this time to get back some of the dignity lost when the federal government clawed back some of your power," Sterritt said.
The panel must make its recommendation to the federal cabinet by the end of the year.
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