Vancouver’s Federal Court of Appeal was set Thursday to hear a final day of arguments in a legal challenge against a massive pipeline project.
The 12-hundred-kilometre twin Northern Gateway pipeline would transport diluted bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands to a terminal at Kitimat on British Columbia’s northern coast for overseas shipping. The eastbound pipeline would import condensed natural gas.
First Nations, environmental groups and a union are attempting to overturn a decision by a federal review panel to approve the $7-billion project.
Canada’s federal government is asking court to uphold the approval.
The company developing the project says the three-judge panel will kill the pipeline proposal if they overturn the environmental approval certificates.
Enbridge, Inc. says such a decision would stop the company from filing anything more with the National Energy Board and the company couldn’t continue.
Enbridge says it has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the project and a court decision not to uphold the approval would put a chill on large-scale infrastructure investment.
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