MCK pleased with National Energy Board decision regarding Enbridge Line 9B

10/16/2014

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) wishes to inform Kahnawa’kehró:non that it is pleased with the National Energy Board’s (NEB) recent decision that requires Enbridge to revise its plans for the protection of major water courses before being eligible to apply for final approval and proceed with the shipment of oil through Line 9B that runs between Montreal and Westover, Ontario.

The NEB had approved Enbridge’s request to reverse and increase the flow of oil through the pipeline this past March subject to a series of conditions. However, the NEB noted that Enbridge failed to provide an adequate definition of “major water course” and failed to provide sufficient evidence to support the lack of shut-off valves around some major water courses.  The NEB directed that the company could not begin shipping oil through 9B until it addresses these concerns.

“The MCK made presentations to both the National Energy Board and the Quebec National Assembly regarding Enbridge’s Line 9B project last fall, at which we made our position very clear” said Environment Portfolio Chief Clinton Phillips. “We are impressed that the NEB has agreed with our assessment that Enbridge needed to vastly improve its safety mechanisms, especially in terms of places where the pipeline crosses waterways.

“When only six of 104 major crossings have shut-off valves within a kilometer of the banks on both sides of the waterway, you know there’s a huge potential for problems – and there’s no way we were going to accept that,” he concluded.