The federal review panel has requested that Enbridge Inc. provide more information about the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline's risks associated with its design and the terrain it will travel across.
The twin pipeline project is proposed to travel from Alberta to Kitimat, passing directly through Burns Lake transporting a mix of oil and condensate for sale in overseas markets.
The joint review panel for the Enbridge Northern Gateway project is an independent body which is mandated by the minister of the environment and the National Energy Board.
The three person panel is currently working to assess the environmental effects of the proposed project and review the application under both the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the National Energy Board Act.
The review process is expected to take approximately two years to complete, however recent requests for more information will now extend the time line for the review process.
The panel requested more information from Enbridge following input from public sessions that were held in Whitecourt, Alberta, Kitimat and Prince George late last year.
In a recently released 24 page document the panel said "The filed conceptual design of the pipeline system does not adequately address project specific challenges and risks."
The panel also determined that the application does not integrate the risk assessment with the consequences on the environment due to any spills that could occur along the pipeline and at the proposed Kitimat marine terminal.
"Because these challenges and risks are not sufficiently identified, integrated and addressed in the application, the mitigative and preventative measures in the application cannot be reasonably assessed," the panel wrote.
The panel determined that more than half of the length of the pipeline route traverses mountainous terrain and crosses areas of high geo-technical risk which includes avalanches, slides, earthquakes and faults as well as unique environmental habitat.
The panel said, "Routing is through Rocky and Coastal Mountains which requires the construction of tunnels through mountains. There will be approximately 13 kilometres of potential acid generating rock and uncertain ground stability [as a result]."
The document went on to state, "There is the potential for far-reaching environmental and human consequences in the event of a hydrocarbon release in populated and environmentally sensitive areas and there is difficult access to pipeline right-of-way over terrain and in tunnels during all seasons."
"We require further information about the conceptual design of the pipeline that demonstrates how the risk factors resulting from the geo-technical and geographic aspects of the applied for corridor and terminal will be taken into account and the integration of the risk factors with the environmental and socio-economic consequences from potential hydrocarbon releases," the panel said.
Enbridge spokesperson Gina Jordan responded by saying, "We are assembling information on how the risk factors from the geo-technical and geographical aspects of the applied-for corridor and terminal will be taken into account and integrated with the environmental and socio-economic consequences from potential hydrocarbon releases."
She went on to say that Enbridge Inc. will prepare the information requested and will file it as part of earlier commitments to provide additional information.