First nation vows to sue over pipeline

B.C. group feels ignored in review of Enbridge project

DAVE EBNER
The GlobeandMail
March 13, 2006

CALGARY -- Aboriginal groups along the route of Enbridge Inc.'s proposed Gateway pipeline to connect Alberta's oil sands with international markets via the West Coast are threatening legal action after they said they have not been adequately consulted in the early stages of the project.

"We're in the new world of aboriginal empowerment. And the National Energy Board hasn't caught up," said lawyer Greg McDade, managing partner of Ratcliff & Co. LLP in Vancouver, counsel to the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council.

The National Energy Board (NEB) has told federal Environment Minister Rona Ambrose that a joint review panel representing various interests should be used to assess the 1,150-kilometre Gateway oil pipeline between Edmonton and Kitimat on the northwest coast of British Columbia.

The Carrier Sekani Tribal Council represents seven First Nations whose land covers about one-third of the B.C. portion of the proposed pipeline and the council had asked the NEB in January for a say in the recommendation of a joint review panel.

Tribal chief Harry Pierre told the board that council members "have unceded aboriginal rights and title" on the Gateway route and "the pipeline will either require our consent or require a significant consultation."

The council was not consulted on the recommendation of a joint review panel for the project and Mr. McDade said in a Feb. 22 letter to the NEB that the council "may be required to bring legal action in Federal Court."

Enbridge has said it plans to file a regulatory application for the $4-billion pipeline within several months and the project could be in service in 2010.

A NEB spokesman said the recommendation of a joint review panel is the highest level of scrutiny a project can face and there will be "ample opportunity" for involvement by any interested party.

In the NEB's Feb. 9 letter to Ms. Rona Ambrose, board chairman Kenneth Vollman noted that "several letters from potentially affected first nations along the proposed route" was one reason the regulator recommended a joint review panel.

Ryan Sparrow, a spokesperson for Ms. Ambrose, said he hadn't heard of the issue and referred the question to the office of Jim Prentice, Minister of Indian and Northern Development.

Two officials for Mr. Prentice did not return phone calls.

Enbridge says it has conducted thorough consultations along the pipeline route.

"The communities along the way are very supportive," Patrick Daniel, Enbridge president and chief executive officer, said in an interview this month.

That bright outlook has kept questions about Gateway fairly muted until recently, but alongside strong words from the Carrier Sekani, controversy is
beginning to bubble in various places.

The Council of the Haida Nation, representing the Queen Charlotte Islands off the B.C. coast, told the NEB it wants the effect of oil tanker traffic to be closely assessed and that the pipeline should not be approved without such a review.