Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun Files / Pollution worries have spurred fierce opposition to the proposed Sumas Energy 2 power plant.

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Environmentalists claimed victory Monday after the National Energy Board announced it would examine the environmental impact of an American power plant before granting it permission to build a power line in B.C.

Hundreds of residents and environmentalists expressed their concerns about the proposed plant at an NEB hearing in October when a motion to consider the plant's environmental effects was in front of the board.

Tim Howard, a staff lawyer with the Sierra Legal Defence Fund -- which represented the David Suzuki Foundation and the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation at the hearing -- was pleased with the board's decision.

"It's a total victory," he said.

"It's a huge victory in the public battle over the air quality impacts of this power plant."

Sumas Energy 2 is a proposed gas-fired power plant to be constructed in Sumas, Wash., directly across the border from Abbotsford.

Seattle-based National Energy Systems Company (NESCO) wants permission to build an 8.5-kilometre power line to transmit 660 megawatts of electricity from the Sumas power station to the Clayburn substation near the Abbotsford/Mission Highway.

From there, the electricity would go into B.C. Hydro's main transmission line and be shipped to customers across the border.

Opponents of the plant, including the provincial government, say it will contribute 2.5 tonnes of air pollution to the area every day, or the equivalent of 320,000 idling cars added to the Abbotsford road network.

"I think we had the stronger case from the outset and the board's done the right thing," Howard said. "They've done the right thing by the people and they've also done the right thing by the law."

However, Monday's decision does not mean an end to the plant.

The board ruled only on whether it can and should hear evidence regarding the environmental impacts of the plant and its power line.

"The National Energy Board has a duty to consider all things that are relevant to the public interest and they concluded that given the international power line and the power plant basically form two aspects of the same project, that the impacts of the plant are relevant to the power line," Howard said.

"From a practical perspective it means the citizens of the Fraser Valley are going to have a chance to see this thing looked at from a purely Canadian perspective."

The decision means the NEB will have another hearing in April when NESCO will explain -- with evidence -- the air pollution impacts of the plant in Canada and citizens and lawyers will have a chance to question that evidence.

"They're going to have a chance to argue that this plant is just not in the public interest to go ahead because it's in a polluted airshed," Howard said.

NESCO president Chuck Martin said the NEB's ruling wasn't a complete surprise and that the company has faced similar speed bumps in the past.

"We certainly knew this ruling was possible," he said in an interview Monday. "It's a little disappointing, but all these things are things we just have to work with."

The board's decision to examine the environmental impacts of the power line and the plant sets a legal precedent, Howard said.

"There's only one other time the National Energy Board has looked at a similar project where there are Canadian and U.S. elements of the same project and looked at the impacts in Canada of the American part of it," he said.

"So, we've won a pretty significant legal battle by proving that if we've got part of the project here we can look at the whole project."

The last time the NEB examined a similar cross-border case was in the early 1970s, Howard said.

Although Martin is disappointed with the decision, he said he's aware that getting a permit to build a power line can be a long process and that most of the legwork is already done.

The plant was approved in August by Washington's Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council and state Governor Gary Locke.

If NESCO is denied permission to build the power line in B.C., the plant's construction may be seriously delayed or even brought to a complete stop.

"What [the NEB] can say is, 'We are not going to approve your power line,' and the consequence of that is that power plant as it is presently designed doesn't go ahead," Howard said.

Although Martin wouldn't directly comment on the impact the NEB's decisions could have on the project, he said if the power line is not approved, the company "would have to go back to the drawing board."

In October, Martin said the company had no cost-effective alternative to the B.C. power line. He said the cost of building a 32-kilometre line through Whatcom County would be prohibitive.

Environment Canada and the province are appealing several points of the Washington-approved permit in U.S. Supreme Court.