The province is still not happy with the answers they are getting from Enbridge at the review panel into the Northern Gateway proposal.
Environment minister Terry Lake says Enbridge officials didn’t have much to say when grilled about oil spill response.
“Well I would say we were disappointed in the level of detail that Northern Gateway was able to provide in answer to our questions around spill preparedness this is a remote area in many cases and access is difficult and yet the company was unable to provide details of response plans which I think cause some concern for British Columbians.”
Lake says the province and the people in BC expect world class oil spill prevention and response.
“The company says they are commited to that level of oil spill prevention and preparedness and yet I would say that the detail…the lack of detail…that we have seen in the responses and certainly their record would not back up that verbal commmitment and I think that British Columbians want to see that at the beginning of the approval process rather than wait for those details to come later.”
Lake says Enbridge is promising more details to come later.
“Well the company says that more detail will come later and we certainly understand that you can’t have all of the details necessary at this stage but i still think there is a big gap between what people would expect in terms of there responses that we have seen to date and what the company has priovided.”
The province will continue to cross examine Enbridge officials but focus on the marine environment when the review moves to Prince Rupert.
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