Two environmental groups, 33 individuals withdraw from Kinder Morgan pipeline regulatory hearings

Two environmental groups and 33 individuals announced on Wednesday that they have publicly withdrawn from National Energy Board (NEB) regulatory hearings into the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline “due to a flawed and biased process.”

The Wilderness Committee, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS BC Chapter) and 33 people became the latest participants to publicly withdraw from the hearings, the Wilderness Committee said in a press release. The announcement follows similar moves by Robyn Allan, economist and former CEO of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia and Marc Eliesen, former CEO of BC Hydro.

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In a letter of withdrawal to NEB secretary Sherri Young, Madden Wood and the individuals charged that the “review has discounted and devalued expert evidence, most specifically the knowledge of the lands and territories the pipeline will pass through, and the likely impact it will have on our waters and salmon. It has under-resourced Nations and Bands, thereby ensuring an unbalanced and ill-informed hearing.”

The exclusion of any discussion on climate impacts and the failure of the right to cross-examine Trans Mountain were also cited as concerns.

“It’s a sad day for us,” said Eoin Madden, the Wilderness Committee’s climate campaigner, in the release. “The federal government has altered the pipeline approval process so that Canadians no longer have a proper say on these major industrial projects,” Madden contended. “What we’re left with is a broken system that prioritizes industry over the public interest.”

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“The individuals and groups withdrawing are concerned that their continued participation in the hearings would lend credibility to an unfair and biased hearing process that has failed to provide a due process to the public,” the release said.

Peter Wood, CPAWs’ director of terrestrial campaigns, said that the organization is “deeply concerned about the consequences that this project could have for B.C., and do not have faith in the NEB process.” Wood called upon the government of British Columbia to initiate a review of the project to ensure it is “transparent, independent, and takes into consideration the full scope of the project’s impacts.”