A National Energy Board decision on Kinder Morgan Canada’s proposed TransMountain expansion will be delayed by seven months after the board determined it needed more information on the feasibility of rerouting the pipeline in the Burnaby, British Columbia area, the board said July 15.
The board now will release its report to the federal cabinet by January 25, 2016, compared with the previous date of July 2, 2015. Oral hearings which were to begin in February 2015 have been pushed out to September 2015 with the hearing record closing after TransMountain files its written reply argument by October 2015.
The NEB has directed Trans Mountain ULC to file additional information on the feasibility of routing a four-kilometre portion of the proposed TransMountain expansion project through Burnaby Mountain. The company recently advised the NEB that this corridor is now the preferred option, a change from the original pipeline corridor filed with the project application in December 2013.
The board has implemented an excluded period from the calculation of the 15-month time limit to complete a review of the project. The excluded period will begin July 11, 2014, and end February 3, 2015.
Once TransMountain has filed the required studies, both the NEB and the nearly 400 registered intervenors will have time to review the evidence and submit information requests to the company. TransMountain will be required to respond to the requests by February 3, 2015 which will end the excluded period.
