Michael Sawyer says his personal opinions about the proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline that would bring natural gas to Kitimat are irrelevant.
According to his filing with the National Energy Board (NEB) appealing for a federal review of the gas pipeline, Sawyer believes “it is constitutionally wrong that the [Coastal GasLink pipeline] project is not being regulated by the NEB,” indicates the filing.
Sawyer through his lawyer was responding to TransCanada’s own filing that the NEB reject his application that it considers whether it should review the project.
“The bulk of TransCanada’s submission consists of repetitious attacks on the integrity of Mr. Sawyer and the application. In reply, these allegations are not warranted and do not justify the board failing to examine whether the project is in federal jurisdiction.”
In its application, TransCanada said Sawyer’s objective was to “frustrate upstream natural gas development in B.C.,” calling his filing “vexatious and an abuse of process.”
Sawyer’s latest filing comes in the midst of heightened speculation that LNG Canada’s investors, which include Shell and Malaysian-government owned Petronas, are about to give the green light to the estimated $37 billion project to supercool natural gas for export via tanker to Asian customers.
And the prospect of a federal review has Kitimat and Terrace businesses and residents worried this would cause a delay or even cancellation of the project.
Sawyer’s on the record as saying the provincial environmental review of the pipeline and plant was inadequate.
He’s also said that while natural gas may be a cleaner burning energy source than coal, natural gas actually contributes more to carbon emissions when all aspects for natural gas from exploration, to processing and to eventual transport are considered.
READ MORE: 14 northern B.C. mayors ‘disappointed’ at LNG pipeline challenge
Insofar as his application is concerned, Sawyer said TransCanada’s own statement indicates natural gas from an exisiting federally-regulated pipeline system would feed into Coastal GasLink, thereby placing it under federal jurisdiction.
Sawyer bases his application on two previous court rulings, one of which was a result of a court action he undertook regarding another proposed northern natural gas pipeline that would have fed the now-cancelled Pacific NorthWest LNG project at Prince Rupert.
Just as is the case with Coastal GasLink, Sawyer argued that the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline should also come under federal jurisdiction and the Federal Court of Appeal referred his application back to the NEB to consider its merits.
The NEB has yet to decide how it will respond to Sawyer’s application.
Last week Premier John Horgan, speaking at the Union of B.C. Municipalities Convention in Whistler, said a final investment decision from LNG Canada was “now very, very close.”
LNG Canada itself says a decision will be made by the end of the year and energy sector analysts have been repeating that statement.
Plans for a construction camp in Kitimat to house up to 4,500 workers are advancing rapidly and dredging has started for a dock expansion in the Port of Kitimat.
READ MORE: Totally our mistake: Kitimat mayor on forgetting Port Edward
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