Pipeline company ordered to stop work near Prince George for polluting fish-bearing stream

The B.C. government has ordered Coastal GasLink to stop work on a section of pipeline near Prince George afterofficials foundsediment-laden water being "pumped into an area that raninto tributaries of the Anzac River."

In an email to CBC News,B.C.'s Environmental Assessment Officesaid there were "negative impacts" to a fish-bearingstream,a matter it takes "very seriously."

High levels of sediment in the water can be deadly to fish and their eggs and destructive to fish habitat.

This incidentis the latest in an ongoing pattern of CGLenvironmental violations.

Many of the violations involvethe pollution ofsensitive waterways and wetlands through erosion and sediment as CGL builds a natural gas pipeline in northern B.C.

CGL's construction project crosses about 625 lakes, rivers, streams, creeks, and wetlands, many of them fish-bearing.

The most recent violation was discovered duringan onsite inspection on April 24 by the Environmental Assessment Office and the office of theB.C. Energy Regulator, the province's energy watchdog.

The stop work order was issued to CGLon April 28.

In a written statement, CGLsaid it had "paused" construction work on a three-kilometrestretch of the project near the LittleAnzac Riveroutside of Prince George.

No exact location was specified.

In an email to CBC News, the EAOsaid its compliance and enforcement branch would assess whether to recommend an administrative penalty against CGL.

Coastal GasLink has been finedjust over $450,000 for environmental violationssince 2022.

In an email to CBC News, CGL'sparent company TC Energy saidits crews are "working hard " to protect waterways from erosion and sediment amidst "highvolumes of snowmelt and rain" this spring.

The company said the stop work order "is not expected to affect the overall project schedule" to complete pipeline construction by the end of 2023.

Two weeks before this most recent environmental violation, CGL reportedtwo spillsof clay lubricant while tunnelling under the Morice River.

The bentonite clay is a fine particulate slurry used to install pipelinein thetunnelling process being used at the Morice River crossing.

CGL called it "non-toxic."

The spill location by the Morice River has for years been thesite of conflictbetween Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs who oppose the pipeline and Coastal GasLink.

The salmon-bearing Morice River, on Wet'suwet'en traditional territory, is considered a sacred headwater called the Wedzin Kwa,

When it's finished, the $11.2-billionCGL pipeline will carry fracked natural gas destined mainly for Asia along a 670-kilometre route to an LNG export facility in Kitimat.

CGL said the pipeline is now 87 per centcomplete.

CGLsaid more than 5,500 people were at work on pipeline construction in March.