Ecojustice lawyers sue, saying it seeks to hold BC accountable to environmental laws
On behalf of a local resident and community groups, Ecojustice lawyers challenged the BC government’s decision to consider the Prince Rupert gas transmission (PRGT) fracked gas pipeline ‘substantially started’ and permit it to proceed based on a 2014 environmental assessment.
The judicial review application of the Kispiox Valley Community Centre Association, Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, and Kathy Larson aims to hold the provincial government accountable to its laws, according to a press release from Ecojustice, an environmental law charity.
“This legal challenge is about ensuring that the province’s environmental laws are applied in a manner that protects the communities and ecosystems that depend on them,” said Matt Hulse, Ecojustice lawyer, in the press release.
“We expect B.C. to follow its own rules and we’re asking the courts to uphold a simple principle: if construction on a project has not been significantly started by the deadline set by the government, it needs a new environmental assessment in order to proceed,” Hulse added.
The application alleged that:
- The Environmental Assessment Office’s head unreasonably held that construction on the pipeline project had substantially started before Nov. 25, 2024, the expiration date for the environmental assessment certificate
- The pipeline company only partly cleared trees from around five percent of the pipeline route and constructed some supporting infrastructure following almost a decade of inactivity
- These limited building activities, just three months prior to the deadline, did not substantially start the project
- Setting a low threshold for the project’s substantial start jeopardized the purpose of environmental assessment certificate deadlines to safeguard communities, local economies, and the environment from the construction of a delayed project based on an outdated comprehension of its costs and benefits
“This doesn’t just lower the bar for a substantial start determination, it eliminates it completely,” said Shannon McPhail, Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition’s co-executive director, in the press release.
“There is exactly 0% of the PRGT pipeline in the ground but the B.C. government seems hell bent on pushing this fracked gas, climate-killing mega project through regardless of their commitments, policies or legislation — including their own substantial start policy,” McPhail added.
In its press release, Ecojustice noted that the pipeline will pass northern BC, continue to the West Coast, and transport fracked gas for export as liquefied natural gas. Ecojustice added that local communities have vehemently opposed the project.
The coalition expressed concern that the pipeline project could progress without considering multiple changes to the project and the area since the assessment over a decade ago and affect local communities, infrastructure, economies, and the environment.
“Citizens of British Columbia should be alarmed by this decision made on behalf of Environment Minister Davidson,” said Graeme Pole of Kispiox Valley Community Centre Association, in Ecojustice’s press release.
“That the government would deem a project of such magnitude to be substantially started when a pittance of actual work has been completed would be laughable if it didn’t have such grave consequences for local communities, and for the regional and global environments,” Pole added.
