TransCanada's proposed Energy East pipeline
Photo by: National Energy Board
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) on Thursday officially started the clock on the controversial Energy East pipeline project, saying the process would be the most innovative in the board’s history.
Project proponent TransCanada was hoping that the $15.7-billion Energy East pipeline would open new markets for Canadian oil, moving about 1.1-million barrels of Alberta and Saskatchewan crude to refineries in Eastern Canada and an export terminal in New Brunswick.
The project had already stirred deep emotions on both sides of the spectrum for and against the project. While the oil industry and the premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick had expressed strong support for the project, some politicians, many environmental groups and several First Nations would have none of it.
Starting August 8 in Saint John, New Brunswick, the first of several panel sessions would take place along the route in New Brunswick, Québec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, the NEB advised. These sessions would be the first opportunity for hearing participants to provide comments and to ask questions about the Energy East project.
The NEB advised that the hearing panel would assess greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions directly related to the construction and operation of the pipeline. Environment and Climate Change Canada would calculate expected upstream GHG emissions, providing the information to the Federal Cabinet to factor into its final decision.
The NEB would concurrently conduct a review of TransCanada’s Eastern Mainline project.
"Given the connections between the two projects, the board determined that the two applications were most effectively assessed within a single hearing," the NEB said in a release.
The Eastern Mainline is a proposal to build about 279 km of new gas pipeline and related components in four sections, beginning near Markham, Ontario and finishing near Brouseville, Ontario. Eastern Mainline would enable TransCanada to continue to meet its commercial obligations should the Energy East project be approved, because part of its existing gas infrastructure would be converted to carry oil.