Issuu

The Citizen office will be closed on Monday for the Easter holiday

Saturday, April 20, 2019 | Your community newspaper since 1916

Coastal GasLink should be provincially regulated, feds argue Elsie ROSS The Canadian Press

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Hoppy Easter Theodore Lovell, 22 months, checks out the Easter Bunny on Friday at Pine Centre Mall. This was Theodore’s second time visiting with the Easter bunny and according to his parents went much better then a year ago. Today is your last chance to visit with the Easter Bunny at the mall.

The National Energy Board (NEB) should find that the provincially approved pipeline that will transport natural gas from northeast British Columbia to the LNG Canada export project in Kitimat is properly within provincial jurisdiction, says the Canadian federal government. In written argument submitted to the board’s hearing into the jurisdiction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline project, the Attorney General of Canada rejects the arguments of environmentalist Mike Sawyer and Ecojustice that the project is a “federal undertaking” and as such should be federally regulated. The federal government takes the position that the Coastal GasLink pipeline project is not a “federal undertaking” and is therefore not under the legislative authority of the National Energy Board Act. “The Coastal GasLink pipeline project, located entirely within British Columbia, is not physically connected to the (federally regulated) NGTL and does not depend on the NGTL System for its gas to transport to the LNG Canada facility,” says the government. “Though both are wholly owned subsidiaries of TransCanada Pipeline Ltd., they have separate corporate structures that provide for separation of management, decision-making, information sharing and other aspects of operation and control.” Further, there is no relationship of dependency between NGTL and the project, the government argues. “None of the participants have current arrangements or contracts with NGTL to supply gas for transport to LNG Canada and any potential future commercial arrangements between a participant and NGTL would have no bearing on the project’s separate transportation

function as a standalone operation,” it says. “In addition, the project is neither designed or approved to flow gas east to the NGTL System; there is no interconnection between LNG Canada and NGTL.” CGL in its submission maintains that its project should be provincially regulated. However, if the NEB determines it is a federal work, the public interest requires the board to establish further processes for an orderly transition to federal jurisdiction to ensure no regulatory “gap” is inadvertently created and that construction of the pipeline (and the associated LNG Canada facility) is not frustrated, says the company. In his submission, Sawyer argues that Coastal GasLink is functionally integrated with the NOVA system as they are parts of TransCanada’s undertaking to move gas from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin to the LNG export market. The CGL pipeline, he says, will connect to the NGTL System and gas for the pipeline will come from the existing NGTL System, as well as from other pipelines. Sawyer says he specifically disagrees with CGL’s suggestion that should the NEB find the pipeline is under federal jurisdiction it should suspend the declaration of federal jurisdiction until the board has issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) for the facilities which have just started construction. “If CGL is in federal jurisdiction, then it requires a CPCN under the NEB Act,” he says. “The board will need the declaration of federal jurisdiction over CGL to provide constitutional support for the exercise of its statutory powers necessary to process and determine a CPCN application for CGL if one is forthcoming.” — see ‘THE TIME, page 3

Regional district gives tentative approval to sell landfill gas Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca A step towards making the Foothills landfill a source of fuel for FortisBC was taken this week when Fraser-Fort George Regional District directors approved in principle a deal to sell methane gas generated at the site to the company. The gas is currently flared off. Turning it into a revenue source has been a longsought-after goal for the FFGRD. Using it to heat greenhouses was considered at one point but the venture fell through. “It’s been 25 years in coming,” board chair Art Kaehn said. “Since 1994 the regional district has been looking for opportunities to find beneficial use of the gas that has been released on the landfill site and we’re very pleased

Today’s Weather Hi +5° Low -3° See page 2 for more details and short-term forecasts

LOCAL HOROSCOPE NEWS OPINION TRAVEL SPORTS A&E

to have come to this agreement.” Because the agreement spans 20 years, it remains subject to voters’ consent via an alternative approval process. If less than 10 per cent of the electorate express opposition through the process, directors can authorize the contract. No dates have been set but the process is expected to take about three months. The agreement also remains subject to approval from the B.C. Utilities Commission. Should those hurdles be cleared, the gas from the landfill will be siphoned off and injected into FortisBC’s natural gas distribution system. FortisBC would pay the FFGRD $75,000 to $145,000 per year and be responsible for financing, constructing and operating a processing plant on the landfill to purify the gas before it’s pumped into the system. — see FORTISBC, page 3

1-3 2 4-5,7 6 8 9-11 12-15

COMICS CROSSWORD WORKLIFE AT HOME CLASSIFIEDS MONEY RELIGION

13-15 13 16 17-18 19-22 23 24

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

The Fraser-Fort George Regional District board approved in principle a deal to sell methane gas from the Foothills Boulevard Regional Landfill.

Missing climber ‘lived his dream’

www.pgcitizen.ca

NEWS 7

Newsstand $2.00 incl. tax Home Delivered 95¢/day

58307

00200