Trying to improve their battered reputation, the National Energy Board held one of its first “community meetings” this week in Hamilton with mixed results. The panel conducting hearings on Enbridge’s cross-Hamilton pipeline plans heard from Six Nations of the Grand, but neglected to advertise the event to the community and blocked participation by community members.
The two-hour event in a ballroom of the Sheraton hotel allowed NEB-approved participants to make oral presentations to the three-member panel examining the proposal to install 35 kilometres of an enlarged Line 10 oil pipeline across the southern part of Hamilton between Enbridge’s Westover terminal and Nebo Road. Nine intervenors have been approved and are expected to be part of formal NEB hearings this fall, while three others, including the city, have been granted permission to submit written comments.
NEB rules require all interested individuals or organizations to complete a several page application form to obtain permission even to send a letter of comment on a project under review. Last week, the board rejected over two thousand individuals and groups who had asked to be involved in the NEB review of the 4600 km Energy East pipeline that if approved would transport bitumen across Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.
On Tuesday afternoon, Lonnie Bomberry and Paul General from the band council of Six Nations provided an extensive account of the history and experiences of their people and especially the unauthorized sale of nearly all the lands granted to them on both sides of the Grand River. They also described the numerous court decisions upholding the traditional rights of aboriginal peoples in Canada and their frustrated efforts to enforce treaties and other promises made to them.
One registered intervenor, Jim Harris, the owner of Knollwood Golf Course that is crossed by the existing Line 10, asked two questions about the experience of Six Nations with both Enbridge and the NEB, but was refused permission to ask a third question. A community member, Patricia Mills, had even less success in participating in the meeting.
When she sought permission to ask her question, the board chair directed the request to a representative of Enbridge who said this wasn’t allowed, a position accepted by the chair. However, another audience member pointed out that the board had the legal authority to decide to hear the question, and that led board chair Jamie Ballem to relent and permit Mills’ question.
But after hearing her question, Ballem directed the representatives of Six Nations of the Grand to not answer it – a request to which they complied. The offending query from Ms Mills was:
“I wanted to ask if you were aware that in 2013, Mississaugas of the New Credit asked both Enbridge and the NEB to stop work after an archaeological assessment conducted by them provided proof and evidence of 17th century Indigenous villages and burial sites including ossuaries, and they refused to stop work.”
Enbridge representatives had no questions for Bomberry and General, and the few queries from the Board focused more on personal interests in history than anything to do with the pipeline proposal. The Haudenosaunee Development Institute is also a registered intervenor but did not speak at the meeting.
The Line 10 proposal includes 11 km of new right-of-way through farmland in the Greenbelt and has generated challenges from several affected property owners, but none of them chose to be part of the meeting, a position also taken by the city of Hamilton.
The NEB has faced growing criticism on multiple issues including its recent approval of the Kinder Morgan pipeline twinning from Alberta to Vancouver – a process denounced as a sham by the mayor of that city. A former consultant for Kinder Morgan is one of the panel members overseeing the Line 10 review. Another is a former oil executive and Conservative volunteer whose appointment to the NEB by the Stephen Harper government was criticized.
Earlier this year a federal environmental audit revealed the NEB has failed to “track company implementation of pipeline approval conditions, or consistently follow up on deficiencies in company compliance with regulatory requirements.” It also continues to refuse to consider climatic impacts of new and expanded pipelines.
Climate change consultation
MP Bob Bratina has announced a “consultation day” for Tuesday, July 5. The all day event in three different locations includes a 10 am session at 1883 King Street East to receive public input on what should be in Canada’s climate change action plan. A late afternoon session focuses on electoral reform.