Two area First Nations have launched a legal challenge against the province's environmental approval for the proposed TransCanada Coastal GasLink Pipeline.
Last week the Nadleh Whut'en and Nak'azdli First Nations, located in the area of Fort Fraser and Fort St. James, applied for a judicial review of the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office's [EAO's] decision to approve an Environmental Assessment Certificate for the proposed 670 kilometre natural gas pipeline.
"We're not trying to stop people from doing business -it's how they're doing it. They just don't care about protecting the environment," Nadleh Whut'en Chief Martin Louie said. "We kept trying to work with them. [But] they only really listen in court, it seems."
The Environmental Assessment Office issued the certificate to the Calgary-based energy company on Oct. 23. The proposed project would see a 48-inch diameter natural gas pipeline built from the Groundbirch area near Dawson Creek to a proposed liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal near Kitimat.
According to TransCanada, the project would have an initial capacity of two to three billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, with a potential for up to five billion cubic feet per day with the construction of additional compressor stations.
TransCanada estimates the project will create 2,000 to 2,500 jobs during construction and 16 to 35 permanent jobs once the pipeline is operational.
The Nadleh Whut'en and Nak'azdli, both members of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, presented the EAO with four expert reports raising concerns about the impact the project, which, they say, were ignored in the EAO's final report on the project.
"It's important our information is included. Hopefully we can sit down with the province and the proponents and talk about how we can get these reports included," Nakazdli Chief Fred Sam said. "The province is fast-tracking these proposals."
Sam said he expects it will be at least until the new year before they have an idea of when their case will be heard and how long the judicial review is expected to take.
The Supreme Court's landmark ruling in the Tsilhqot'in case earlier this year "changes the law on the ground" for all First Nations, Louie said.
"We need a better place to talk then in court," Louie said. "[But] we either stop them in the courts, or we go out on the land. I saw what happened in Burnaby... people got hurt for nothing. We have title. Let's just do business..."
A spokesperson for the B.C. Ministry of Environment said the ministry cannot comment on the matter while it is before the courts.
"We understand that the judicial review is a challenge of the government's decision, but we have not seen the documents and cannot comment on them," TransCanada spokesperson Shawn Howard said in an emailed statement. "We believe that the EAO's process provided a robust consultation process concerning the project. Coastal GasLink remains committed to engagement and consultation with all aboriginal groups across this project."
TransCanada has applied to the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission for permits to build and operate the proposed pipeline. Decisions on those applications are expected in the first quarter of 2015.
