Kanesatake Grand Chief has doubts about energy board’s objectivity on Energy East Pipeline – Montreal Gazette
July 23, 2015
Serge Simon says the National Energy Board is little more than a “kangaroo court.”
Even so, the Kanesatake Grand Chief will join hundreds of First Nations leaders later this year when he testifies at the NEB’s Energy East Pipeline hearings. Last week, the NEB released the names of 108 aboriginal intervener groups — a list that includes the Kahnawake and Akwesasane Mohawks — each of whom will voice their concerns about the project.
The hearings determine whether Trans Canada can begin construction on a 4,600-kilometre pipeline that would link the Alberta tarsands to terminals in Quebec and New Brunswick.
But Simon, fellow chiefs and one former energy executive say they have serious doubts about the NEB’s objectivity in ruling on the future of the $12-billion project. The NEB’s 13 board members are appointed by the federal government and critics say too many have ties to the oil, pipeline and energy companies they’re charged with regulating.
