BC’s Environment Minister calls a report on the Enbridge oil spill in Michigan several years ago “”on the surface from the executive summary a pretty damning report.”
But Terry Lake says his government will stay the course in gathering all the information they can on the Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal before making any decisions.
Lake says while the province missed a deadline to submit evidence to the National Energy Board hearings the government is still has intervenor status.
“We have still opportunity to ask questions of the proponent and to present closing arguments but a lot of the information and a lot of the questioning that goes on can happen outside of the joint review panel process as well so we will continue to do that we will use the environmental process in front of us.”
Lake says the despite what Adrian Dix says the province is anything but missing in action is very active on several fronts.
“We also have the opportunity and are using the time to discuss the issue with both the federal government and Alberta.”
When asked if the government could still oppose the pipeline, Lake says its all about benefit versus risk.
“Well I would think that British Columbians would not accept anything whereby the risks outweigh the benefits thats why it is an equation we have to get the level of risk down to a very very small number we have to have world class protection in place along the coast and on the land as well.”
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