Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Pipeline Doesn’t Meet Substantial Start Threshold Say Gitanyow Chiefs
Press Release
Apr 4, 2025
The Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs are asking the B.C. government to address significant concerns around the upcoming “substantial start” decision for the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project.
In a letter to the Minister of Environment and Parks and the Chief Executive Assessment Officer, the Gitanyow responded to a draft substantial start determination report from the Environmental Assessment Office. Gitanyow hold that the information in the draft report demonstrates that the threshold for a substantial start on the pipeline project has not been met and the project’s environmental assessment certificate has expired.
Gitanyow concerns included the following points:
- The project has changed significantly since it was first approved, including route changes for a new terminus.
- PRGT is legally barred from undertaking construction activities throughout over 92 per cent of the pipeline route.
- The minimal amount of construction activity completed by PRGT was authorized through what may be a legally unsound permit by the B.C. Energy Regulator.
- The cumulative effects assessment that is a permit requirement prior to construction was not completed and is the subject of a court action by three community organizations and local First Nations.
- The B.C. Environmental Assessment Office barred Gitanyow from acting as an observer in the compliance and enforcement inspections for construction activities, despite repeated requests.
- Further construction should not proceed. The B.C. Energy Regulator must abide by the provincial Environmental Assessment Act and not authorize further activity without a valid Environmental Certificate.
Quote:
“We outlined in November our rationale for how this project fails to meet the threshold for a substantial start. We’re very disappointed to see that nothing in the draft report addresses the concerns we raised.
“We’re asking the B.C. government to provide some basic answers to significant issues before the decision can be made on whether this project actually meets the substantial start criteria.
“With substantial changes to the project since the environmental assessment certificate was issued over a decade ago, a better understanding of cumulative effects and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act enacted, the significant concerns we’ve raised need to be answered before this decision is made.”
Naxginkw/Tara Marsden, Wilp Sustainability Director
Background:
What is a substantial start?
A substantial start decision is meant to balance the recognition that “it would be unwise to allow long-delayed projects to proceed based on reports and conditions that have become outdated” with the recognition that it may be inappropriate to require a proponent to commence a new provincial assessment for a project it has already physically started “in its essentials, in a real and tangible way”.
What has changed since the original environmental assessment?
Key elements of the proposed project have fundamentally changed since the environmental assessment certificate was issued over a decade ago. The science of understanding cumulative effects has changed significantly, and recognition of the rights of Indigenous nations has developed considerably over that same period — including, through the B.C. government’s overhaul of the Environmental Assessment Act to centre the environmental assessment process around Indigenous consent and “ensure that any decision taken on the question of consent by an Indigenous nation is free, prior and informed”, in addition to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act being enacted.
For more information and media requests:
Xbiisuunt/Chasity Daniels
Communications Coordinator
ghc.communications2023@gmail.com
-30-
ILR4
