(OTTAWA) - Following the announcement that National Energy Board (NEB) hearings on the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project will now be delayed until after the election, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May released the following statement:
“Steven Kelly’s appointment to the NEB is just the latest mess in the Kinder Morgan NEB hearing, and it is all Stephen Harper’s fault,” Ms. May said. “In Bill C-38, the disastrous omnibus budget bill, Stephen Harper repealed the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and placed pipeline environmental assessment reviews in the hands of the NEB – an organization that’s denied the public access and refused to include climate change as an issue of concern.
“Also due to Bill C-38, the time limits for hearings have led to the NEB shortening the time for reviews and cancelling the normal rights to cross examine witnesses. As a result, a number of interveners already quit, because the process as it is so appallingly biased.”
Steven Kelly was hired by Kinder Morgan to write an economic analysis justifying the $5.4-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. As Vice-President of IHS Global Canada, Mr. Kelly submitted the 203-page report to the NEB on behalf of Kinder Morgan.
Fellow interveners Adam Olsen, B.C. Green Party Leader, and B.C. MLA Andrew Weaver, support Elizabeth May, who was granted intervener status in the upcoming NEB hearings on the proposed pipeline expansion. Adriane Carr, Green Party Councillor for the City of Vancouver, is also slated to attend the NEB hearings as a Commenter. 

“Once again, Stephen Harper stacked the deck in favour of aggressive tar sands development,” concluded Ms. May. “Despite the postponement, I continue to fight as an intervener in the NEB hearings for my constituents in Saanich – Gulf Islands and all Canadians to stop this reckless pipeline scheme. The risks, including the increased likelihood of a devastating tanker spill off of B.C.’s coast, are simply too great to proceed.”