The federal review panel examining the proposed Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Project said Wednesday it needs more information before it can decide how the project’s two 1,170 kilometre-long pipelines and port terminal may benefit Canadians.
“The application materials do not adequately address project-specific challenges and risks,” said the panel, which is mandated by the Ministry of the Environment and the National Energy Board.
The panel is requesting information from Enbridge (TSX:ENB) about how it's taking into account geotechnical and geographic risk factors along the project’s pipeline-corridor and at its terminal.
It also wants Enbridge to further address consequences from potential hydrocarbon releases.
The panel said it required additional information because the project’s route crosses areas prone to avalanches and slides and because many communities along the route are dependent on the land for subsistence and cultural reasons.
“The pipeline design to address these challenges must be available to allow the application to be fully assessed,” said the panel.
Once Enbridge files that information, the panel will issue an order that will outline the timeline and ways in which interested members of the public may participate further in the review process.
Enbridge’s two pipelines would run from Bruderheim, AB, to Kitimat, B.C., where oil would end up on tankers destined for export markets.
Proponents of Enbridge’s project and of tanker traffic on B.C. coast are facing mounting pressure from environmentalists, federal opposition MPs and First Nations to strangle crude oil movements across the province.
Last month, Liberal and NDP MPs passed a motion aimed at banning oil tanker traffic along B.C.’s north coast.
“What I find appalling is these people, without apparently looking at or correctly interpreting the history of B.C., are suggesting we shut down all tankers leaving Vancouver harbour and shut down the Enbridge [Northern Gateway] project without even thinking about it or telling people what it would mean in practical terms,” said John Hunter, a North Vancouver-based energy consultant, in a article in this week’s edition of BIV about tanker traffic off of B.C.’s coast.
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