Stephen Hazell
Director of Conservation
and Legal Counsel

Nature Canada and BC Nature are standing up for nature in the National Energy Board (NEB) hearings on the TransMountain pipeline and tanker project that are slated to run from this autumn. The 1,180 TransMountain project would increase capacity from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels per day, and result in oil tankers moving almost daily through the Salish Sea past critical Important Bird Areas such as Boundary Bay.

Why participate in the hearings at all when it seems highly likely that the NEB will recommend approval of TransMountain to the federal government (albeit with conditions)? Here are three reasons:

First, Nature Canada takes the view that the facts detailing the importance of the birds, animals and ecosystems of the Salish Sea and the risks posed by the project needs to be explained face-to-face to the members of the NEB as well as to the proponent. Ultimately, we are in a contest to convince all of these folks of the values of nature conservation, and specifically that the Salish Sea can never be allowed to sustain a major oil spill from a tanker or terminal. Participating in the process may not lead to better decisions; but surely the decisions will be worse if the nature community does not participate.

Second, it is key to realize that under 2012 legislation, the federal government will make the decision on whether TransMountain goes forward, and not the NEB. Nature Canada and BC Nature are much better placed to lobby the federal government to make a nature-friendly decision because we can demonstrate that we did our best to convince the NEB to make nature-friendly recommendations on TransMountain.

Third, Nature Canada and BC Nature are also much better placed to challenge in court the NEB recommendations or federal decisions on TransMountain given that we have been active intervenors at the hearings. While it is much too early to even consider such a drastic (and costly!) step, nonetheless our lawyers at UVic Environmental Law Centre are building the legal foundations for a potential lawsuit through our participation in the hearings.

Nature Canada and BC Nature are not content to stand on the sidelines and jeer. We are standing up for nature in the TransMountain hearing room.