The Skeena
The Coastal GasLink pipeline has repeatedly caused environmental violations that could affect rivers and streams, a report from B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office warns.
The office is recommending potentially stiff penalties for the project’s builder TC Energy, according to a report in The Tyee.
“Administrative penalties of up to $750,000 could be imposed for each day Coastal GasLink remains out of compliance,” the media outlet reports. “Court-imposed penalties of up to $1 million for a first conviction and up to $2 million for subsequent convictions are also possible under the act, the [the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change] said.”
The report was published in September.
It was based on provincial inspections in late April and early May of this year in various locations between Chetwynd and Smithers.
The inspectors determined that the project was “not compliant” on several occasions “regarding controlling the risk of sediment transport to Environmentally Sensitive Receptors, watercourses.”
News of the report comes as Wet’suwet’en Nation members occupy drilling sites along the project’s route, “in an attempt “to stop the drilling under the sacred headwaters that nourish the Wet’suwet’en Yintah and all those within its catchment area,” as Skeena Strong reported last month.
APTN reports that “the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and their supporters are continuing to press for a stop to the Coastal GasLink pipeline with new blockades going up despite an injunction against them and a police presence.”
Check out a recent news report from APTN here.
