Review panel demands more details from Enbridge on Northern Gateway pipeline
CALGARY - A panel weighing in on the future of the proposed Northern Gateway bitumen pipeline said Wednesday it needs more information about the controversial Enbridge Inc. project before handing down a decision on its public benefit.
The joint review panel, created a year ago to assess the public interest of the $5.5-billion pipeline, wants more engineering details on the project which would extend from Alberta to the northwest coast of British Columbia.
“Based on our assessment of the application and the comments received during the panel sessions, we have determined that additional information on the design and risk assessment of the pipelines is required,” the panel said in its decision Wednesday. “This is due to the difficult access and unique geographic location of the proposed project.”
No deadline has been set for Enbridge to respond or for the panel to issue a final decision.
The additional delay adds further risk to a project touted as critical to Canada’s national interest by Enbridge and as a potential environmental catastrophe by opponents.
The Northern Gateway project would transport approximately 520,000 barrels per day of diluted bitumen from Alberta to a marine terminal in Kitimat, B.C. where tankers would ship the resource to Asian and North American markets.
Environmental and First Nations groups oppose the project over concerns of how an oil spill could affect the pristine land and coastal environment, currently under a tanker moratorium.
Enbridge has promoted the line not only as beneficial by creating employment for local communities, but as a needed link to alternative markets for Canadian oil long focused on the United States.
The company said it was too soon to discuss how the panel’s increased demands would affect its plans for the pipeline.
“We’ve just received the joint review panel session results and decision and we’re currently reviewing it,” said Gina Jordan. “Once we’ve had a chance to review those details we’ll be in a better decision to comment further.”
The panel of National Energy Board and Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency representatives included an expanded list of environmental, socio-economic and routing issues to be addressed in public hearings.
Not included in the list was the pipeline’s affect on the development of Alberta’s oilsands, a contentious issue among groups opposing the carbon-intensive resource but not within the panel’s mandate or scope, according to Wednesday’s release.
The panel set out in May 2010 to determine a draft list of issues around the pipeline through public sessions, if Enbridge needed to file additional information about the pipeline with national regulators and to set locations for public hearings.
No deadline has been set for either Enbridge to submit the information or for the panel to submit its decision.
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