NEB rejects environmental group's call to expand scope of Trans Mountain pipeline review

The National Energy Board is rejecting a call made by an environmental group last month to greatly expand the scope of its reconsideration of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

Stand.earth filed a motion to the federal regulator on Jan. 21 demanding it add consideration of the project's upstream and downstream greenhouse gas emissions to its review of project-related marine shipping issues.

It asked the board to apply the same standard to the project as it did with the Energy East pipeline before it submits its final report to the federal government, expected this Friday.

But the federal regulator says in a ruling on its website that its reconsideration is designed only to address issues arising out of the Federal Court of Appeal ruling in August that set aside its previous approval.

It says Stand.earth's proposal missed its deadlines and repeated requests made by several other parties that had already been denied.

In a news release, Stand.earth says the NEB decision breaks an election pledge made in 2015 by the Liberals to give all energy projects a full climate review.

"The National Energy Board has denied this motion because the Trudeau government specifically excluded climate change impacts from a full review of this pipeline," said international program director Tzeporah Berman.