Environmentalists and pipeline opponents across British Columbia celebrated Friday as the provincial government rejected the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal.
It has been a long three years for environmentalists who have been fighting hard against the pipeline project, which would see bitumen piped from Alberta to Kitimat, and shipped through B.C.’s intricate coastline to Asia.
About 4,000 people made submissions to the Joint Review Panel and thousands more wrote letters speaking out on the proposal.
In the final two days before the BC Liberals finally announced their official position, protestors flooded Premier Christy Clark’s office with emails.
The hard work of opponents, which included hundreds of protests and rallies, paid off when the province decided that Enbridge hadn’t met environmental concerns.
The province’s decision that Enbridge hadn’t presented enough evidence about how it will respond in the event of a spill was applauded by opponents across the province.
“Enbridge would like to move forward on a promise, and the B.C. government is absolutely right in saying that we can’t trust them to do that,” said Art Sterritt, executive director of the Coastal First Nations.
John Bennett, executive director of the Sierra Club Canada, called it an “historic” decision.
“Days like this give meaning to 50 years of environmental activism,” Bennett said in a statement.
Groups including the Dogwood Initiative, the World Wildlife Federation and the National Wildlife Federation echoed those sentiments, and a Calgary-based clean-energy think tank called it a cautionary tale for Ottawa, Alberta and the oilsands industry.
“If they want to see additional pipelines, they will need to accelerate improvements toward regulating upstream impacts of oilsands development and minimizing the risk of oil spills,” said Nathan Lemphers of the Pembina Institute.
The Gitga’at First Nation applauded the province for its leadership.
But B.C. left the door open to changing its mind before the panel issues its report at the end of the year, and included recommendations for strict conditions the government believes should be put in place should the panel decide to issue a certificate.
Enbridge had promised more planning and study once approval for their pipeline was granted, the province pointed out.
“‘Trust me’ is not good enough in this case,” said the 99-page submission.
Janet Holder, executive vice-president Western access for Enbridge, suggested B.C. simply affirmed its commitment to five conditions for approval that the province announced last year.
Those conditions can’t be fully met until the panel process is complete at the end of this year, she said. In the interim, Northern Gateway will be working with the province.
“We are working hard to meet the conditions and earn the confidence of the government and the people of B.C.,” Holder said in a statement.
The review panel will hear final arguments at hearings starting next month in Terrace, B.C., and a final report is due to the federal government by the end of the year.
Adrian Dix, the leader of the B.C. New Democrats, said the Liberal government’s formal rejection of the project is “too little, too late.”
The province signed an agreement with Ottawa in 2010 giving the federal government ultimate authority to approve the project.
“Even with this submission, the final say rests with Stephen Harper,” Dix said.
Nikki Skuce of Forest Ethics said Ottawa does have the final say, but she said it seems less and less likely the pipeline will win approval.
“I think it will be really difficult for the federal government to push a project through a province that didn’t want it, that has rejected it,” she said.
With files from the Canadian Press and Darlene Heidemann
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