Tag: environment

Enbridge to improve risk assessment on proposed Northern Gateway pipeline

Vancouver Sun 

Enbridge to improve risk assessment on proposed Northern Gateway pipeline 

 

Enbridge acknowledged Thursday it needs to improve its risk assessment of potential accidents along the route of a controversial proposed pipeline that would deliver crude oil to the west coast of British Columbia. 

A company spokesman made the comments in response to a new analysis to be submitted Friday to a government review panel that raises questions about potential impacts of the Northern Gateway project.

“There are major sources of uncertainty that are not adequately acknowledged and/or incorporated into the analysis,” said the review, prepared by Stella Swanson, a Calgarybased aquatic biologist.

The review analyzed the company’s public submissions to the government panel that is assessing the environmental impacts of the $5.5-billion Northern Gateway project.

B.C. first nation challenges oil and gas tenures sale: Globe and Mail

Globe and Mail


The sale of oil and gas tenures in northeast British Columbia by the provincial government for $260-million is being challenged in court by a native band.
The Dene Tha, a first nation that straddles the B.C.-Alberta-Northwest Territories boundaries, has filed a petition with the Supreme Court of B.C. The band alleges that the B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines failed to adequately consult with the first nation, or to undertake studies on the environmental impact of gas drilling, before selling the leases in the Cordova Basin, near Fort Nelson. Shale-gas deposits in the Cordova Basin are thought to be extensive.

Sacred Headwaters book slated for October release

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Last summer, members of the International League of Conservation Photographers visited the northwest of British Columbia in what they call a RAVE (Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition).

One RAVE involved photographing areas which ILCP members feel may be threatened by the construction of the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline and the increased  number of supertankers plying the west coast of British Columbia. That RAVE shot mainly along the coast and in the Great Bear Rainforest.

At the same time the ILCP conducted a second RAVE along the Skeena, Nass and Stikine Rivers. 

Today, National Geographic announced that a book on the Sacred Headwaters would be released in October.

National Geographic says:

Now, against the wishes of all First Nations, the British Columbia government has opened the Sacred Headwaters to industrial development. Imperial Metals proposes an open-pit copper and gold mine, called the Red Chris mine, and Royal Dutch Shell wants to extract coal bed methane gas across a tenure of close to a million acres

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National Geographic says the Sacred Headwaters RAVE was launched with partner Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition (SWCC) to produce images of the Sacred Headwaters of (the birthplace of 3 of British Columbia’s greatest salmon rivers – the Stikine, Skeena, and Nass). The text is written by author and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Wade Davis.

National Geographic is quite open about why it is publishing the book:

The book will be used as a tool by iLCP, SWCC, other local conservation groups and Wade Davis to derail proposed mining projects that would destroy the Sacred Headwaters. The book will be published in October 2011 right before the moratorium on mining in the Sacred Headwaters is lifted.

Information on the ILCP Great Bear Rave can be found here.

The 14-day expedition to the Great Bear Rainforest called upon 7 world-renowned photographers and 3 videographers to thoroughly document the region’s landscapes, wildlife, and culture. The RAVE provided media support to the First Nations and environmental groups seeking to stop the proposed Enbridge Gateway pipeline project (and thus expansion of the tar sands) and to expose the plan to lift the oil tanker ship moratorium

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While the Great Bear RAVE did produce some stunning photographs, the photographers stayed along the coast and (at least for now) did not venture up Douglas Channel where the tankers will have to navigate the tricky waters to the port of Kitimat.

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Here’s how the Enbridge hearings will proceed

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Staff of the Northern Gateway Joint Review panel explain the hearing process to residents of Kitimat at Riverlodge Recreation Centre, June 16, 2011.  (Robin Rowland/Northwest Coast Energy News)


It will take more than year for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel to complete hearings and taking evidence before it even begins to consider a decision whether or not to approve the controversial pipeline proposal. 

Even then, the worries of the residents of northwest of British Columbia will be only one factor in the panel’s decision. 
The Joint Review panel information town hall reached Kitimat on the afternoon of Thursday, June 16. One of the information sheets handed out at the town hall explained the Joint Review Panel this way: 
 In deciding if the Project is in the public interest, the Panel will consider whether Canadians would be better or worse off if the Project was approved. The public interest includes all Canadians and refers to a balance of economic, environmental and social considerations that change as society’s values and preferences evolve over time. 
(Emphasis in original)
 Here is a summary of how the process will work: 
This summer, those who wish to formally participate in the hearing process must register with the panel.
 For those who wish full intervenor status, the deadline to apply is July 14, 2011.
For those who wish to make oral statements in the community round of hearings, the deadline to apply is October 6, 2011. 
Those formal intervenors who wish to request information from Northern Gateway have two deadlines. August 25, 2011 is the deadline for the first round, after which Northern Gateway must respond by October 6. The intervenors then can ask Northern Gateway a second set of questions, with a deadline of November 3, 2011. Northern Gateway must respond by November 24, 2011. 
The deadline for intervenors to file written evidence with the panel is December 22, 2011.
Community hearings
 On January 10, 2012, the Joint Panel will begin the “community hearings” phase where anyone who met the registration deadline, either as an intervenor or a community participant, can make a presentation to the panel. 
 These community hearings will be held across northern BC and Alberta, along the route of the pipeline and down the coast, with, sources say, a significant session slated for Kitimat.
The community hearings are expected to take several weeks.
 Those who made oral comments to the panel then have until March 13, 2012 to file follow up letters. 
Final hearings
 The community hearings are then followed by another round of filing by the intervenors and government participants.
 On June 16, 2012 the Joint Review Panel will then open the more formal “final hearings” at a location to be determined. 
 Around the same time, the Joint Review Panel must prepare an environmental assessment report that will be submitted to the Minister of the Environment. 
Again, according to the handout material, there is a caveat in the panel’s mandate 
 The significance of any negative environmental and socio-economic effect is only determined after considering the actions that are proposed to prevent or reduce the effects.  (Emphasis in the original)
 In other words, as those who have attended Enbridge’s briefing sessions know, the company has outlined a whole series of safety measures, for example, adding navigation aides to Douglas Channel and parts of the coast.
If the environmental movement wishes to challenge the voluminous reports, likely costing millions of dollars that Enbridge has already filed as part of its application to the Joint Review Panel,  the environmental concerns will have to be backed up with solid and expensive expert evidence.
 Once the Minister of the Environment has the environmental assessment, the government then responds: 
The government response will set out whether the Government of Canada agrees or disagrees with the conclusions and recommendations made the Panel by the panel regarding the potential environmental and socio-economic affects of the Project. The Governor-in-Council [ the federal cabinet] must approve the government response. This approved response will be made available to the public.
The decision
 After it hears the government response on the environment, the panel makes its decision,  whether or not the project can proceed. 
The Panel will issue its Reason for Decision which will include a decision whether or not the Project is in the Canadian public interest.

If the Panel decides the Project can proceed, its Reasons for Decision will include conditions that Northern Gateway must meet before, during and after the construction of the Project.

If the Panel decides that the Project should proceed, the Panel will send its decision to the Governor in Council who can either accept or reject the decision but cannot modify it.

The Governor in Council means the federal cabinet, so the final decision will rest with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

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Canadian oil boom may bring many more tankers to Northwest waters: Seattle Times

Seattle Times

Canadian oil boom may bring many more tankers to Northwest waters

[F]ights over Canada’s oil sands could have an impact much closer to home. One company is hoping to boost oil-sands shipments to Asia through Northwest waters — plans that would quadruple tanker traffic through Vancouver, B.C., and dramatically increase the amount of oil traveling through the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Some of the tankers the company hopes to accommodate could carry four times more crude than the Exxon Valdez, the supertanker that spilled 11 million gallons of crude into Prince William Sound….

“That’s definitely a lot more crude carriers,” said Chip Booth, a manager with the Washington state Department of Ecology’s spills program. “It certainly represents a bit of a higher risk.”

But it’s far too soon to say how much more.

Oil Sands Project in Canada Will Go On if Pipeline Is Blocked: New York Times

New York Times
(Registration required)

Oil Sands Project in Canada Will Go On if Pipeline Is Blocked

One way or another — by rail or ship or a network of pipelines — Canada will export oil from its vast northern oil sands projects to the United States and other markets.

The oil sands have reserves of 171.3 billion barrels, according to estimates by the provincial government of Alberta.

So the regulatory battle over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would link the oil sands to the Gulf Coast of the United States, may be little more than a symbolic clash of ideology, industry experts say. Even if the Obama administration rejects the Keystone plan, the pace of oil sands development in northern Alberta is unlikely to slow

Joint Review hearings on Enbridge Northern Gateway set for Kitimat in mid-January: sources

The full Joint Review Panel hearings on the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline are tentatively set to open in Kitimat in mid-January, 2012.

Knowledgable energy industry insider sources confirmed the likely dates and that the bulk of the hearings will take place in Kitimat to Northwest Coast Energy News Friday after a number of the participants in this week’s  National Energy Board hearings on the KM LNG pipeline made inquiries locally about booking meeting rooms and hotel accommodation for several weeks in a stretch,  beginning in early January, 2012.

The Joint Review website says:  “The Panel will start meeting with participants on 10 January 2012 at locations to be determined.”   During last winter’s  National Energy Board pre-briefing  on this week’s  LNG hearings, NEB staff said the location  to  be determined was always chosen to provide the best opportunity for those involved to speak before the board.  While there were fears in Kitimat that the LNG hearings would be held Alberta, those fears proved to be unfounded.

The Joint Review panel is now traveling across BC offering information sessions to the public.
Updated schedule here. It is highly likely that hearings, like the information sessions, will be held in as many locales as possible, but those will likely be mostly about local issues, with the bulk of the concerns before the Joint Review Panel hearings in Kitimat.
 
A NEB source cautioned that dates are always tentative due to other hearings, staff commitments (some of the KM LNG NEB staff are also assigned to the Northern Gateway hearings) and, as sometimes happens, the lawyers agreeing on postponements.
 

According to the official website:

The Joint Review Panel for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project is an independent body, mandated by the Minister of the Environment and the National Energy Board. The Panel will assess the environmental effects of the proposed project and review the application under both the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the National Energy Board Act.

The Joint Review panel has much wider powers to hear issues than the NEB did this week in the KM LNG hearings, where the only issue on the table was the partnership’s application for a natural gas export licence.

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Kitimat fishers, hunters ask NEB for special conditions on KM LNG export licence

The Kitimat Rod and Gun Club Tuesday asked the National Energy Board to place special conditions on the Kitimat LNG project so as, in the words of Rod and Gun representative Mike Langegger, to preserve “the fish and wildlife values of the northwest,” from the “cumulative effects” of industry encroaching on the wilderness. 

The board panel,which is considering the project’s application for a natural gas export licence,  allowed Langegger to testify early in the proceedings, now expected to run at least until Thursday, because he has other commitments.
In response to a specific question from Lynn Mercier, presiding member of the board panel, Langegger asked that the NEB require the KM LNG partners, energy giants Apache, Encana and EOG,  establish a joint committee with Kitimat residents, both First Nations and non-First Nations, to preserve the values of the wilderness around the liguified natural gas terminal.
He also asked that the energy companies create special funding “dedicated to fish, wildlife, and the environment…to maintain the fishing, hunting [and] recreational activities used by residents not just for now but for generations to come.” 
The liquified natural gas terminal is proposed for Bish Cove, down Douglas Channel from Kitimat, an area that is currently still largely wilderness. 
Langegger noted that crucial salmon breeding rivers flow into Bish Cove from the surrounding mountains. Bish Cove is also known as a habitat for deer and bears, both black bears and grizzlies.
He also asked that Kitimat residents continue to have access, as they do now, to the bush surrounding the proposed terminal “with no gates, no lockoffs.” Langegger complained to the board that Rio Tinto Alcan has, in recent years, restricted access to the Kitimat River estuary, near the aluminum plant, while once Kitimat residents had easy entry to the estuary.

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Langegger said that Rod and Gun members and other Kitimat residents fear the cumulative effects of the destruction of the wilderness, and specifically that some of the past practices of the forest industry, which he said had a “huge detrimental effect,” could be compounded by the Kitimat LNG plant and other projects.
 While not referring directly to the proposal, Langegger was bringing in the Enbridge Northern Gateway project, which is being considered in a separate National Energy Board proceeding. 
Lanegger told the NEB panel that he hoped that “the new generation of industries coming [would] accept those values” of fishing, hunting and recreation.
Mike Langegger of the Kitimat Rod and Gun
 club checks his notes while testifying before the NEB. (Robin Rowland/Northwest Coast Energy News)

Enbridge refines sales pitch: Terrace Standard

Terrace Standard 

Enbridge officials are sharpening their sales pitch for the company’s planned Northern Gateway oil pipeline project, saying it will bring jobs, provide an economic boost and help wean the country from an overdependence on the United States of America. 

 Andrew Popko, one of three Enbridge officials on a tour of the area last week, said Canada deserved to get world prices for its products.

“Our most valuable asset is oil from northern Alberta,” he said.