An environmental group launched a court challenge against federal environmental review process on Tuesday with the aim of making public hearings into new oil pipeline projects more accessible.
ForestEthics Advocacy filed a legal action on Tuesday challenging provisions of new federal regulations passed last year which makes it more difficult to testify at National Energy Board (NEB) hearings.
"We think that the laws that Harper laid out are unfair and it's very important the courts look at this and potentially send the government of Canada back to the drawing board," ForestEthics spokesman Ben West said.
The government made the changes as part of an omibus bill last year and said the new rules would improve environmental protections.
Environmental groups disagreed and pointed to a section of the new law which would make it more difficult for people to participate in the process by limiting the scope of who is eligible to speak and by increasing the amount of paperwork involved in gaining access to the process.
The new rules came into effect after more than 1,500 individuals and groups signed up to participate in the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline from northern Alberta to Kitimat.
If the new rules remain in place future projects, like newspaper mogul David Black's plan to build a similar pipeline as well as a north coast refinery, could face less public scrutiny.
The court challenge is focused on the hearings around Enbridge's plan to reverse the flow of its Line 9B so that it can move oilsands products from Alberta towards eastern Canada, one of the first pipeline plans to proceed under the new regulations.
West said the result of the case could set a precedent for future environmental reviews, including Black's Kitimat Clean plan.
"We've already heard pretty loud and clear that this isn't going to be the same as the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline proposal in terms of the ability for people to participate and the scale and scope of the Joint Review Panel," West said.
The legal challenge could still be winding its way through the courts when Kinder Morgan officially submits its proposal to expand its Trans Mountain pipeline which runs from Alberta to Burnaby. West said if the case isn't decided before the terms of reference for that project are announced, he hopes the NEB will still opt for a broader interpretation of who can participate in the hearings.
"I hope if noting else this really makes the National Energy Board take pause and think very carefully about the process they put forward," he said. "They do still have a fair bit of leeway under the existing legislation."
