Northern Gateway and the NEB Hearings
A chronology of Raincoast's scientific & legal efforts to protect BC's coast from Enbridge's Northern Gateway project and our role in the NEB/CEAA Hearings.
Get more information on our work, submissions and public documents regarding Northern Gateway.
Raincoast was an intervener in the National Energy Board’s (NEB) and Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency’s (CEAA) public review process of the Northern Gateway Pipeline project, known as the Joint Review Panel (JRP). We were represented by our legal counsel, Ecojustice.
The following is a brief overview of our scientific and legal work against the Northern Gateway Project in our efforts to keep our coast oil-free.
2004: Raincoast begins 5 years of systematic ocean surveys to document the presence, abundance and distribution of marine birds and mammals to inform the debate and growing pressure on the BC coast for oil development.
2009: Raincoast completed 7 seasons, 14,000 kilometres of survey trackline compiling over 2000 ‘sightings’ of marine mammals and 20,000 ‘sightings’ of marine birds.
2010: Raincoast published scientific papers on preliminary results, a technical report, and a popular report: What’s at Stake: the Cost of Oil on BC’s Priceless Coast
- View published scientific papers from the marine mammal surveys
- Download the technical report: Predictive Marine Mammal Modelling for Queen Charlotte Basin, British Columbia (PDF)
- Download the popular report What’s at Stake?: the Cost of Oil on BC’s Priceless Coast (PDF)
- Download the popular report Embroiled: Salmon, Tankers & the Enbridge Northern Gateway Proposal (PDF)
In 2010: Enbridge filed their proposal with the NEB. The proposal (i.e. Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment or ESA) and its many updates can be downloaded from the NEB’s website. The volumes that Raincoast reviewed can be downloaded below.
2011: Raincoast filed as a formal intervener with the NEB to participate in the JRP hearings. Raincoast’s NEB team was lead by Dr. Paul Paquet and consisted of Chris Darimont, Brian Falconer, Caroline Fox, Michael Jasney (NRDC), Misty MacDuffee and Andy Rosenberger.
2011: Raincoast filed the first round of Information Requests to Enbridge and the Canadian Federal government
2011: Raincoast submitted its evidence to the Joint Review Panel critiquing aspects of Enbridge’s pipeline, marine terminal and tanker proposal, specifically as they relate to impacts on wildlife. Our review revealed severe inadequacies with the assessments, models and analysis in Enbridge’s Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment (ESA).
Download Raincoast’s Submission of Evidence (PDF), or individual chapters separately:
- Table of Contents (pdf)
- Part 1. Preface, Cumulative Impacts, Natural Hazards, Climate Change and Terrestrial Impacts (pdf)
- Part 2. Marine Impacts – Marine Mammals (pdf)
- Part 3. Marine Impacts – Marine Birds (pdf)
- Part 4. Marine Impacts – Salmon (pdf)
- Part 5. Marine Impacts – Herring (pdf)
- Part 6. Marine Impacts – Eulachon (pdf)
- Part 7. Marine Impacts – Tankers (pdf)
- Evaluating external risks to Protected Areas (pdf)
- Underwater Noise Impacts (pdf) submitted by the NRDC
2012 (July): Raincoast received questions from Enbridge regarding our submission of evidence. Some were legitimate questions regarding the evidence presented, while others were puerile jabs that had no relevance to the submission, the material in front of the JRP panel or the NEB process.
Download Enbridge’s Information Request & Raincoast’s Response (PDF)
2012 (November): Enbridge lawyers cross examine Raincoast scientists on our terrestrial evidence submission. Download November 2012 Transcripts (pdf).
2012 (December): Legal counsel for Raincoast (and its partners) began cross examination of Enbridge on the marine component of Enbridge’s ESA. Download December 2012 Transcripts (pdf) (Tim Leadem X).
2013 (february) Raincoast’s legal counsel, Ecojustice, continue cross examination on the marine component of Enbridge’s ESA. Download February 2013 Transcripts (pdf) (Karen Campbell X).
2013 (March): Raincoast’s legal counsel, Ecojustice, continue cross examination on the marine component of Enbridge’s ESA. Download March 2013 Transcript’s (pdf) (Barry Robinson X).
2013 (April): Enbridge cross examines Raincoast scientists on our marine submission of evidence and critique of their ESA. However, at the 11th hour, Enbridge withdraws their request to cross examine 90% of Raincoast’s submission. Severe critiques of Enbridge’s work to assess impacts to salmon, herring, eulachon, marine birds, and threats/impacts from the terminal, oil tankers and cumulative effects, stand unchallenged. Download April 2013 Transcripts (pdf).
2013 (April): with Raincoast providing scientific support, our legal counsel, Ecojustice, cross examined two departments of Canada’s federal government, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Environment Canada, on the marine components of Enbridge’s ESA April 2013 Transcripts (pdf) (Tim Leadem X).
2013 (early June) Raincoast and our JRP coalition partners submitted Final Written Arguments (pdf) in the hearings.
2013 (mid June), Raincoast’s legal counsel, Ecojustice, presented our Final Oral Arguments (pdf) (delivered by Barry Robinson) in response to Enbridge’s final arguments.
2013 (late June): the hearings concluded.
2013 (December): The JRP panel released their report findings and made recommendations to Stephen Harper’s cabinet to approve Northern Gateway.
2014 (January): Raincoast and partners, represented by Ecojustice, launched our first legal challenge to the NEBs recommendation, citing their failure to satisfy the appropriate review of the project.
2014 (June): Stephen Harper’s Cabinet approved Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway project.
2014 (June): Raincoast and partners, represented by Ecojustice, launched our second lawsuit seeking a court order to quash federal approval of Northern Gateway until an adequate environmental assessment report can be produced.
2014 (December): the Federal Court of Appeal granted our application to judicially review the federal approval of the Northern Gateway pipeline, and challenge the NEB’s certificates of public convenience and necessity.
2014 (fall): After 18 of these legal challenges were made against the project by intervenors in the federal hearing process, including those brought by 8 First Nations, the legal challenges were consolidated to be heard before the Federal Court of Appeal in October 2015.
2015 (October): Hearings were held for six days in Vancouver, BC. Download Raincoast (and partners at Living Oceans and Forest Ethics) Memo of Fact and Law that was argued as part of this case.
2016 (July): The court ruled and agreed with one aspect of the consolidated case. They confirmed that the federal government’s consultations with First Nations were insufficient. This effectively quashed the permits for Northern Gateway and sent the project back to the federal cabinet for reconsideration.
2016 (July): Even though the permits were torn up, the arguments based on the failure to adhere to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the Species at Risk Act were ignored. The implications of this are very harmful to review processes legally charged with protecting species, ecosystems and adhering to Canada’s laws. We also believe this to be unlawful. As such, Ecojustice and Raincoast appealed many aspects of this court decision. The case was denied but the details for appeal can be found here.
Note: All of Raincoast’s submissions and correspondence, and those of our JRP coalition partners Living Oceans Society and Forest Ethics, can be viewed by searching the NEB’s website. NEB documents often refer to our partnership as “The Coalition”.
Want more?
Enbridge’s Submission to the National Energy Board (reviewed by Raincoast)
Terrestrial Submissions
- Volume 6A: ESA Pipeline and Tank Terminal Part 1 (pdf)
- Volume 6A: ESA Pipeline and Tank Terminal Part 2 (pdf)
- Volume 6C: ESA Human Environment (pdf)
- Volume 7A: ESA Construction, Environmental Protection and Management Plan (pdf)
- Volume 7B: ESA Risk Assessment and Management of Spills – Pipelines (pdf)
- TDR Terrestrial Wildlife Data and Field Surveys (pdf)
- TDR Vegetation (pdf)
- TDR Enbridge Wildlife Habitat Models (pdf)
Marine Submissions
- Volume 6B: ESA Marine Terminal (pdf)
- Volume 7C: Risk Assessment and Management of Spills – Kitimat Terminal (pdf)
- Volume 8A: ESA Overview and General Information – Marine Transportation (pdf)
- Volume 8B: ESA – Marine Transportation (pdf)
- Volume 8C: Risk Assessment and Management of Spills -Marine Transportation (pdf)
- TDR Weather and Oceans Conditions (pdf)
- TDR Coastal Mapping in CCAA (pdf)
- TDR Coastal Mapping OWA (pdf)
- TDR Risk Assessment of Spills (pdf)
- TDR Properties and Fate from Spills at OWA (pdf)
- TDR Properties and Fate from Spills at CCAA (pdf)
- TDR Marine Physical Environment (pdf)
- TDR Marine Mammals (pdf)
- TDR Marine Birds (pdf)
- TDR Freshwater Fish and Fish Habitat (pdf)
- TDR Marine Fisheries (pdf)
- TDR Marine Ecological Risk Assessment for Kitimat Terminal (pdf)
- TDR Marine Acoustics 2006 (pdf)
- TDR Marine Acoustics Modelling Study 2010 (pdf)
Updates
- General Oil Spill Response Plan March 2011 (pdf)
- TERMPOL Updates Summary (pdf)
- TERMPOL_TDR Vapour Cloud Modelling and Conditional QRA (pdf)
- TERMPOL_TDR Hydrocarbon Mass Balance Estimates (pdf)
- TERMPOL_TDR Manoeuvring Study plus Appendices (pdf)
- TERMPOL_Surveys and Studies (pdf)
- TERMPOL TDR Marine Shipping QRA (pdf)
More information and context for these submissions (produced by Raincoast) can be viewed on the legal summary by West Coast Environmental Law.
You can help
Raincoast’s in-house scientists, collaborating graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors make us unique among conservation groups. We work with First Nations, academic institutions, government, and other NGOs to build support and inform decisions that protect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on them. We conduct ethically applied, process-oriented, and hypothesis-driven research that has immediate and relevant utility for conservation deliberations and the collective body of scientific knowledge.
We investigate to understand coastal species and processes. We inform by bringing science to decision-makers and communities. We inspire action to protect wildlife and wildlife habitats.