Nature Canada

BC Nature to challenge Cabinet decision to approve Northern Gateway

BC Nature, Nature Canada’s affiliate organization in British Columbia, has announced its intention to file a lawsuit challenging the federal Cabinet’s decision to approve the Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker proposal.

A key argument in BC Nature’s new lawsuit will be that the Joint Review Panel’s report was so lacking in detail and analysis that it deprived Cabinet of the factual and legal basis for making an informed decision on the project.

This is BC Nature’s second lawsuit regarding the approval of the Northern Gateway proposal. In January 2014 it launched a legal challenge of the Joint Review Panel’s decision to approve the pipeline and tanker proposal.

Last month, BC Nature and Nature Canada expressed their profound disappointment at the federal government’s decision to conditionally approve Northern Gateway. The University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre represented BC Nature and Nature Canada at the hearings and brought several important procedural motions and secured the late admission into evidence of key material on threats to endangered caribou populations. Nature Canada and BC Nature were one of only two environmental coalitions that participated throughout the hearings.

Nature Canada has chosen instead to focus our finite resources on being a voice for nature in the TransMountain pipeline proposal rather than join BC Nature in its Northern Gateway legal actions.

Want to Help?

Canada’s wilderness is the world’s envy. It’s our duty to keep our true north strong and green.

Donate