The New Brunswick ombudsman is now looking into whether the provincial government should conduct its own environmental impact assessment of TransCanada’s proposed Energy East bitumen pipeline, like the province of Quebec is doing.
The office of the Ombudsman will investigate why jurisdictions like Quebec are doing their own independent environmental assessment of the mega project while New Brunswick has deferred its responsibility to the National Energy Board.
As a result of the investigation, Ombudsman Charles Murray could recommend that the provincial government conduct its own study and require TransCanada to register the project for a review specific to the concerns of New Brunswickers.
Quebec has already decided to conduct its own environmental review of the project separate from the National Energy Board process.
Meanwhile, last week the Ontario Energy Board released a report on Energy East which concluded the environmental risks of the project outweigh the potential economic benefits.
The Ontario Minister of Energy asked the OEB to complete the report to help inform the government’s position when it appears before the National Energy Board hearing.
The provincial energy board held consultations with people and communities along the pipeline route for 15 months. It found:
- The potential economic benefits of the project are not worth the environmental risks it would pose.
- Participants at community meetings routinely expressed concerns about pipeline safety and the effects an oil spill would have on their local rivers, lakes and sources of drinking water.
- Pipelines generally produce minimal economic benefits for the communities they flow through.
- The response, clean up and remediation costs of a spill could easily surpass $1 billion.
Learn more about TransCanada’s Energy East Pipeline proposal here.