Regulator Rejects Hearing on Kitimat LNG Export Application
The Canada Energy Regulator (CER) said October 4 it would not hold a public hearing into Chevron Canada’s application for a 40-year natural gas export licence underpinning its expanded Kitimat LNG project in BC. The 40-year licence would replace a 25-year licence already issued to Chevron.
In an August 9 submission on Chevron’s original application to the National Energy Board (NEB) – which has since been replaced by the CER – BC environmental activist Michael Sawyer claimed that Chevron’s gas supply evidence did not meet the NEB’s surplus requirements.
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Additionally, Sawyer claimed that the CER was prevented, under provisions in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012 (CEAA 2012), from making a decision on the export application until federal environmental assessment requirements for the 18mn mt/yr Kitimat LNG project are met.
To test the veracity of Chevron’s gas supply evidence, Sawyer asked the CER to establish a full regulatory process that would give intervenors the opportunity to test Chevron’s evidence in a public hearing.
The CER rejected the request for a public hearing to test Chevron’s supply evidence and ruled that the CEAA 2012 provisions cited by Sawyer were unrelated to its considerations for a natural gas export licence and “therefore not relevant.”
“Without impugning or supporting the validity of Mr. Sawyer’s arguments with respect to future gas supply markets, the commission finds that it will not require the full regulatory process and convening of a public hearing, as requested by Mr. Sawyer, in order to make a decision on the application,” the CER said in its decision. “The commission will proceed to consider the application and render a decision.”