Prince George-area MPs Dick Harris and Bob Zimmer stressed Tuesday that Ottawa's approval of the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline is a green light with all 209 conditions of the joint review panel attached.
"They've got a mountain ahead of them," said Harris. "The B.C. government has their five conditions as well, and then there are the court challenges, a number of them, either filed or about to be filed now that the government has cleared the way for that."
"I've been supportive of the panel all along," said Zimmer. "The process suggested the 209 recommendations that need to be fulfilled and we backed what they said. I think most will be challenging, but I think [Enbridge] is committed to meeting those obligations. It will be the National Energy Board that holds the proponent to account so those 209 conditions are met, or not. The project will not proceed otherwise."
Harris said there were many reasons that a pipeline from the Alberta oilsands to the Pacific coast is a good idea in theory, with many jobs for Canadian workers, substantial government revenues, a diversified economy and another market other than the United States for petroleum products, but the theory has to reconcile with the real-world concerns around environmental security, human safety, and First Nations approval.
"Certainly I don't think [Northern Gateway] will be done in a timely fashion. But obviously Enbridge thinks they can do it, they have stayed in the game knowing this was in front of them, so let's see if they can."
Harris said it was the existing First Nations impasse that would likely pose the biggest challenge to Enbridge now.
Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Mike Morris said he had been expecting the federal answer to be highly conditioned approval, and agreed that the First Nations component was the tallest challenge.
"I've always been the eternal optimist. Everything is solvable," Morris said. "But they got off to a bad start on First Nations consultations but I think they are making up ground on that issue. But a ways to go yet."
The proposed route would include a significant stretch through Morris's riding. The same portion would go through McLeod Lake Indian Band territory. Alec Chingee was representing the band at the Resources North land management conference at the Prince George Civic Centre on the day the federal announcement was made. Chingee said the band had not turned its back on Enbridge's hopes to use their homelands for the pipeline, but even now the company's consultations with the band were felt to be "mediocre" and far from earning any approvals.
Carrier Sekani Tribal Council elected tribal chief Terry Teegee has been an organizer of conferences, roundtables and protests regarding land use and industrial activities on the aboriginal territory. For his associated First Nations governments across the region, Enbridge has no place.
"Over the last few years the Conservative government has laid out the red carpet to big oil," Teegee said, pointing to policy decisions and changes to laws as proof they wanted to lay the groundwork for projects like Northern Gateway. He pointed at the 209 conditions, "and also the provincial government's five conditions are there to be met, and it's the province that issues the work licenses," as helpful in his attempts to keep the project from happening.
"There are a lot of points on which you can fight and potentially kill this project," Teegee said. "We have been talking to other First Nations neighbours discussing our legal course of action. Nothing has been decided yet, but Thursday there will be some activism in front of Dick Harris's office at 5 p.m. to voice our concern. And in the next while this could potentially poison the well for other projects - mines and LNG - in our territories. This was a bad federal decision. Those other things are still in negotiations. We are not saying no to those things. We are looking at them. But this could potentially derail all that. Seeing the way the government tries to ignore First Nations authority and neglect their duties to consult with us, it makes us greatly concerned."
Someone not concerned by the many conditions hanging over the pipeline's future is former Prince George mayor Colin Kinsley, a longstanding supporter of the pipeline.
"Saying no to this would be like saying no to the first railway or saying no to the St. Lawrence Seaway. This is nation-building, man," Kinsley said.
Teegee spoke up to remind all that there are many nations within the Canadian federation, on top of the provinces, and they held the final word on any industrial project in partnership with mainstream society.
"This could be the defining moment of who we all are as British Columbians," said Teegee. "Is Ottawa really listening to British Columbia? This is a project that defines us all. It is our generation's Clayoquot Sound and could be our generation's Oka. I intend to go as far as we can using court action, but we are not saying there won't be direct action on the land."
