Canada's federal energy regulator is defending its decision to keep Canadians in the dark about safety concerns with two major oil and gas pipelines. The concerns prompted the regulator to order pressure reductions on both lines last October, which are still in effect today. 

 The National Energy Board intervened in the operations of the two pipelines, owned by Enbridge and Trans-Northern, that travel through Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton and other regions in Western Canada. This came after a major rupture in Michigan involving another pipeline owned by Enbridge, which resulted in more than three million litres of crude oil leaking into the state's Kalamazoo River. 

 [Board spokeswoman Stacey Squires] distanced herself from comments made one day earlier by her colleague, spokeswoman Carole Leger-Kubeczek, who had said the board was "not equipped" to post safety decisions "in terms of resources." Squires said it was not a question of resources, but that it would be "very labour-intensive and require a lot of time" to provide all the information, including audits and inspections, regarding a company.