Protests hit Canadian pipeline project

Bloomberg

British Columbia is delaying a decision on a controversial stretch of the Coastal GasLink pipeline and asking TC Energy Corp to take more time to engage with indigenous groups after weeks of debilitating protest blockades along Canada’s rail network.
In an emailed letter to TC Energy, the province’s Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) said it needs additional information to make a decision on the 18-kilometre (11.2 mile) stretch of the proposed pipeline. It gave Coastal GasLink 30 days to engage with the indigenous groups and update a report.
In separate letters, the agency asked the Dark House and Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs to share feedback with the company, particularly about the pipeline’s potential impact on a healing centre.
“As expressed in these letters, the EAO is aware that there may be additional information that Dark House and the Office of the Wet’suwet’en may be able to provide to Coastal GasLink for inclusion” in its report “to further minimise or avoid the effects of project construction,” the agency wrote on its website.
The letters were sent on February 19-20 as blockades entered a third week, shutting down freight traffic in eastern Canada and halting to most intercity passenger service. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged that his government’s efforts to negotiate a solution have failed and signalled he would be open to police intervention.
“Coastal GasLink will respond to the issues raised in the letter by the EAO and attempt to engage with Dark House on issues raised in their correspondence to the EAO,” it said. If approval is secured shortly after the end of the 30-day process, “this short delay will not impact our spring construction schedule.”
Environmental and indigenous-rights activists have obstructed rail lines in several provinces, protesting the construction of the planned $5 billion pipeline. It would ship natural gas to an LNG export facility under construction on the British Columbian coast that is backed by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, PetroChina Co and three other partners.
Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs indicated they are standing firm in their demands that the RCMP depart from their traditional lands, and that all construction on the Coastal GasLink project stop before “nation to nation” dialog can begin between the indigenous group and the governments of British Columbia and Canada.
The report the company submitted to the EAO “had numerous omissions and several areas that we were concerned weren’t reflected,” Dark House member Karla Tait said.