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MLA wants more from energy board

Intervenor should include cross-examination powers

The Green Party hopes the National Energy Board allows them to speak up.

Oak Bay-Gordon Head MLA Andrew Weaver, Green Party leader Elizabeth May and Interim Leader of the BC Green Party Adam Olson held a press conference along the waters of Dallas Road, requesting the NEB introduce cross-examination into the hearing process on the proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion.

“I applied for intervenor status so I could stand up for my constituents and offer them a voice in the process,” Weaver said. “Like others, I applied under the expectation that intervenors would have the right to cross-examine the proponent during the oral-hearing process.”

Weaver, May and Olsen were granted intervenor status by the NEB April 2 for the hearings that will begin next year on the proposed twinning of the pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby that would almost triple capacity to 890,000 barrels, from the approximately 300,000 barrels of oil a day.

“This is a watershed moment for the B.C. government’s claim that it will stand up for British Columbians,” Weaver said. “Without oral cross examination the government has little ability to credibly and transparently represent the best interests of British Columbians in this process.”

The NEB will make a recommendation on the Kinder Morgan project to the government for approval, by July 2, 2015.