National Energy Board protects pipeline corporations while investigating anti-pipeline groups
Harper's NEB spies monitoring anti-pipeline groups
BY STAFF REPORTER, THE PROVINCE NOVEMBER 19, 2013
Kayakers display anti-pipeline banner during a protest last Saturday in Vancouver.
Photograph by: DARRYL DYCK , THE CANADIAN PRESS
The provincial chapter of a national non-profit environmental organization says Canadians should be chilled by a media report claiming the Harper government has been closely monitoring anti-oil sands groups in B.C.
Bob Peart, the executive director of the Sierra Club of B.C., said the report, published Tuesday in the Vancouver Observer, raises all kinds of questions and casts a pall over the democratic process in Canada.
"What we really want in a country like Canada is a healthy debate," he said. "What information have they gathered? What are they trying to do with it? There are all kinds of questions, not only about how they are doing it, but what they are doing with it."
Based on freedom of information documents, the Vancouver Observer reported that the National Energy Board (NEB) "coordinated the gathering of intelligence on opponents to the oil sands" ahead of the recent federal hearings on the Northern Gateway pipeline project.
The hearings, which formally wrapped this summer, were carried out by a Joint Review Panel (JRP) mandated by the NEB. The panel is expected to issue its recommendation report on the proposal in December, with Ottawa reserving final say on the project.
The story quotes excerpts taken from 140 pages of emails, from December 2012 to April 2013, which show the NEB "directed police protection of their board members and officials from Enbridge and TransCanada Corporation."
The documents also show that the NEB worked with CSIS and the RCMP to co-ordinate "security plans" for the Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna and Prince Rupert hearings, the Vancouver Observer reported.
The groups identified in the emails included Idle No More, ForestEthics, the Sierra Club and the Dogwood Initiative.
"Opponents of the Oil Sands have used a variety of protest actions to draw attention to the Oil Sands' negative environmental impact, with the ultimate goal of forcing the shutdown of the Canadian petroleum industry," reads one email sent from a RCMP intelligence specialist to the group leader of security at the NEB.
"Opposition is most notable in British Columbia, with protest focused on the Enbridge Northern Gateway, Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline, the increasing use of hydraulic fracturing, and proposed LNG facilities."
Peart said the emails are "disturbing" and throw "a shadow" on the independence and integrity of the JRP.
"It certainly makes me wonder," he said. "It is pretty chilling."
A request for comment on this story was not returned by the NEB.
Enbridge Inc.'s controversial $6 billion Gateway project proposes a pipeline from Alberta's oil sands to Kitimat. The pipeline would be able to transport an estimated 525,000 barrels of crude oil per day, the majority of which would be shipped to Asia via supertanker.
The proposal has faced stiff resistance in B.C. from environmental groups and First Nations communities. Last weekend, anti-Enbridge protests were held across the country, including in Vancouver.
The governments of B.C. and Alberta, meantime, reached a framework agreement earlier this month on moving energy resources.
The Canadian Energy Pipeline Association released a report late last week suggesting transmission pipelines add billions of dollars to the Canadian economy annually.
"All told, the pipeline industry is responsible for over 25,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs across Canada, counting for approximately $1.9 billion in labour income in 2012," a statement issued by the CEPA read.