Calgary (with files from National Energy Board) – It didn’t take long after the Trudeau government gave their second green light, for the entire public consultation process to re-boot.
The National Energy Board (NEB) wants to hear from affected parties, the public and Trans Mountain Pipeline ULC (Trans Mountain) on how the NEB should proceed with regulatory processes for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (Project), including compliance with Project conditions and approval of the detailed route.
On June 18, the Government of Canada approved the Project. As directed, the NEB issued a Certificate and amendments to existing Certificates to Trans Mountain. The issuance of Certificates does not automatically reinstate previous NEB decisions or orders required for Trans Mountain to begin or resume construction of the Project. The NEB must now decide how regulatory processes for the Project will resume.
The NEB’s proposed approach is to continue the processes that were underway, and to rely on decisions and orders that were issued prior to the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) decision on the Project in August 2018, unless relevant circumstances have materially changed.
The NEB’s intent is to minimize any potential burden on participants by not repeating processes unnecessarily, while at the same time, ensuring that it accounts for relevant circumstances that have material changes. The public may file comments online or via fax or mail, until July 5. Instructions on how to file are on the NEB’s website. Trans Mountain’s initial comment filing deadline is June 28, with its reply comments due on July 9. All comments received will be available on the NEB’s website.
