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LNG pipeline may dodge review
Gary Park For Petroleum News
Environmentalists in British Columbia are gearing for a regulatory and political showdown over plans by TransCanada to build a C$4 billion natural gas pipeline to feed the Shell Canada-operated LNG Canada project.
Under proposed changes to federal legislation, there is no assurance the proposed 420-mile, large diameter pipeline would face an environmental review — a prospect that is arousing green leaders in the province.
Otto Langer, a former head of habitat assessment for the Fisheries Department in British Columbia and the Yukon, said chances of the Coastal GasLink pipeline sidestepping an assessment would be a “travesty of the public trust.”
Craig Orr, executive director of Watershed Watch, told the Vancouver Sun he was “astounded that there is even a thought of exempting something of such magnitude, with such potential risk.”
“There is so much discretionary power now in whether anything gets an environmental assessment. I don’t think it serves Canadians well, especially those concerned about the environment.”
Federal oversight reduced Under legislation passed by Parliament in June, the Canadian government has reduced federal oversight of fish habitat, transferring greater responsibility for assessment to the provinces to avoid duplication and allow greater federal focus on major projects.
Legislation introduced in October has been criticized for further eroding environmental protection, including the exemption of energy pipelines from the Navigable Waters Protection Act, limiting coverage to only three oceans, 97 lakes and 62 rivers, or less than 1 percent of Canada’s waterways.
A coalition of groups, including the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, David Suzuki Foundation and Ecojustice has urged that the bill not be passed.
The federal government has reportedly washed its hands of environmental assessments of 492 wide-ranging projects in British Columbia.
Coastal GasLink Coastal GasLink was chosen by the LNG Partners — Shell, Korea Gas, Mitsubishi and PetroChina — and is planned to initially carry 1.7 billion cubic feet per day of gas from the Montney region in northeastern British Columbia, with potential to expand to 4 bcf per day. Construction is scheduled to start in 2015, with completion due in 2018.
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency has a deadline of Jan. 3 to announce whether a review will be conducted.
A spokeswoman for the agency said that even if that option is eliminated “all applicable federal legislative, regulatory and constitutional requirements must be fulfilled.”
TransCanada documents show the pipeline would cross 320 watercourses, including the habitat of more than 100 species at risk, such as white sturgeon and woodland caribou.
TransCanada has also submitted the project description to the British Columbia government in advance of an official assessment by the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office — a prospect Langer scoffs at, telling the Vancouver Sun the province is “giving the green light everywhere” to projects, adding that its review process is too soft on industry.
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