Intervener groups and Northern Gateway have sparred for months during cross-examination over the amount of detail provided in the plan to build a heavy oil pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat.
Those questioning the company, including the provincial government, have repeatedly said Northern Gateway hasn't provided enough specifics to assuage their concerns. The company has consistently replied that more details will be forthcoming as the process moves along.
On Friday both sides got a preview of some of the timelines involved when the Joint Review Panel examining the environmental assessment application produced a list of draft recommendations. The 199 possible conditions the panel could put on the pipeline range from asking for reports on how materials will be produced to requiring specific emergency response plans and details around how caribou habitat will be protected or remediated.
The proposed conditions were released months before the panel will provide either a positive or negative recommendation and are meant to give the proponents and opponents alike the chance to respond prior to final arguments later this spring.
Northern Gateway spokesman Ivan Giesbrecht characterized the recommendations as "a healthy list" but said the company isn't prepared to comment on the specifics of the draft conditions until they've spent more time reviewing them.
"British Columbians should feel confident that this continues to be a very rigorous and transparent review of our plan," Giesbrecht said. "Part of that is setting forth conditions, having us respond to these conditions and having interveners respond to those conditions."
The provincial government is also in the process of reviewing the recommendations before providing specific comments.
"In preparing B.C.'s final argument submission, our team of legal and technical experts are analyzing the 199 conditions against the concerns identified by our cross-examination of [Northern Gateway] representatives at the [Joint Review Panel] hearing, the backdrop of provincial regulations and the province's five conditions for support of heavy oil pipelines," the Ministry of Environment wrote in an email.
ForestEthics Advocacy spokesman Ben West said the conditions will force Northern Gateway to deal with the details that weren't provided during cross-examination by his group and others.
"I think this an indication that [the Joint Review Panel is] very aware of the level of concern," West said. "The number of conditions that are being put in place seems to me to be an attempt to set a higher bar as a result of that level of concern."
West doesn't expect that the proposed conditions will sway public perception of the controversial project one way or another.
"I think at the end of the day most people aren't expecting the NEB to reject the pipeline outright, that's something I don't think has ever happened," he said. "The best they can do is put in place a bunch of conditions and that's not going to go far enough for most people in this province."
The Joint Review Panel is expected to release its final report at the end of December.
