Pipeline co. hurting resource sector: Cullen
The Northern Gateway environmental review process has generated public cynicism around resource development which is putting other projects at risk according to Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen.
In an interview after delivering his final argument against the proposed Northern Gateway project to the National Energy Board's Joint Review Panel on Thursday, Cullen said the way the pipeline company has handled itself in the region is hurting the entire resource sector.
Cullen said he was told by a mining company on Tuesday that they've felt blow back from the Northern Gateway public engagement process.
"They say, 'Enbridge is killing us in the region. People are so wary and cynical that when we come in and we'd like to consult, we have even less certainty than before this whole process,' " Cullen said. "They are doing more damage than just to themselves, they're hurting the ability for people to do business in the region."
The NDP representative broke down his final argument into four categories: the fairness of the process, environmental concerns, the economic case for the pipeline and the lack of a social license.
Cullen tried to argue that the process hasn't been done fairly due to recent changes in federal government legislation, but panel chairwoman Sheila Leggett ruled those statements out or order during final argument.
The panel will make a recommendation to the federal government by the end of the year, but Cullen is concerned the cabinet may water down any conditions the National Energy Board places on the project, if it gets approved.
"People shouldn't be living under any illusion that because the panel says, 'well this can go ahead if you do these safety things or take these measures,' that's actually what is going to happen," he said.
He spent most of his time on the last topic, which he considers crucial to the panel's final recommendations to the federal government.
"You can't have many, many tens of thousands of people directly opposed to a project of this significant and say their resistance just doesn't matter," he said.
He was particularly upset with comments Northern Gateway made in its final written argument, which asked the panel to give some comments from the public less weight because those who made the comments lacked expert training.
"Calling us stupid and irrelevant is not a way to win people over," Cullen said. "What arrogance is that, to say that the people living here, if they're opposed, are ignorant and irrelevant. Even just reading that got me angry."
Cullen hopes the government of B.C. will continue with its opposition to the project and said if Premier Christy Clark were to change here mind it would be "one the greatest betrayals in B.C.'s history."
As long as B.C. remains opposed, Cullen said he thinks it's unlikely the project will succeed due to the political challenges the governing federal Conservatives would face if they tried to push it through.
"It would do two things: First, it would say he doesn't care what people think and second it would say that he is in support projects that threaten who we are," Cullen said. "That simply doesn't end with people in the northwest, it goes for folks right around the country."
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