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TERRACE, B.C. – There were many times in the past when the people on the banks of the Skeena River wanted to be a part of something bigger.
They were swept up in gold rushes, logging rushes and settlement rushes. The town of Terrace was formed in the early 1900s, the result of a campaign for a station along the Grand Trunk railway by settlers eager to be connected to the rest of country. During World War I, the area’s Sitka spruce was used to build airplanes. During the Second World War, Terrace housed a major army base to guard the Northern Pacific Coast against a Japanese invasion.
Opportunity is knocking again today. It’s coming from Alberta, which is seeking permission to build the Northern Gateway oil sands pipeline from Edmonton to nearby Kitimat to boost Canada’s oil trade with Asia. But opposition has been mounting since it was first proposed a decade ago.
Much effort and money has been spent to change views. Epic public hearings by the National Energy Board (NEB) and Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) that weighed all aspects and all views wound down here on Monday, bringing to an end an 18-month trek on the proposed right of way.
As the three-member panel takes the next six months to weigh mountains of evidence to determine whether the pipeline is in the public interest, questions abound; among them:
Did the review accomplish what it was supposed to? Has it informed the debate and produced common ground on whether the project should go ahead? How valuable will a recommendation be to the politicians who have final say? Are there lessons for proponents of future projects in this area, where First Nations and their histories loom so large?
As proponents and opponents squared off for a final time, inside the hearings and outside, in demonstrations, in bars, on the airways and in print, the proposed project had the feel of an issue that has spun out of control.
Northern Gateway and its hearings have become a platform for all grievances, from unsettled aboriginal land claims, to judgments about the oil sands, from complaints about the bad behaviour of corporations, to lack of trust in government.
Project president John Carruthers said the review, which has cost proponent Enbridge Inc. and the 10 oil companies backing it nearly $500-million so far, has been exhaustive but also worthwhile, and provided the panel with all evidence it requires to make an independent recommendation.
“The people who ultimately have to be persuaded are the Joint Review Panel” of the NEB and CEAA, he said in an interview.
“The real key question is what they are thinking, how their thoughts have evolved in terms of whether it can be built and operated safely, what is the impact on the environment. Though many of us would have maintained our positions, learned a lot and amended them … ultimately it’s the panel whose decision will dictate whether the project goes ahead.”
For the rest of this editorial, click here: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/06/24/questions-linger-as-northern-gateway-hearings-come-to-close/?__lsa=36af-c1a7