(Image Credit: CFJC Today / Kent Simmonds)

By Dylana Kneeshaw

TRANS MOUNTAIN PIPELINE

‘It’s obviously a disappointing decision’: BC Attorney General responds to Supreme Court dismissal of TMX appeal

Jan 16, 2020 | 4:50 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed a move from the B.C. Government to regulate what could flow through the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion.

The province appealed to the Supreme Court after the BC Court of Appeal ruled last May that the province could not impose restrictions on pipeline contents.

Today, that appeal was shut down.

While in Kamloops this afternoon (Jan. 16), Attorney General David Eby spoke with CFJC Today minutes after the decision was revealed, and says he was disappointed.

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“Personally I don’t mind saying that it’s obviously a disappointing decision,” he says. “Certainly caring about our land and water, and our economy and the impacts of potential spills of not just bitumen, but potentially other substances that the government would want to regulate is critically important.”

B.C. argued that if potentially harmful substances could bring damage, it should be able to choose what flows through the pipe. Eby says the cost to go to court to inquire about the province’s rights was worth the investment.

“So no, we don’t have those numbers, but I can tell you that in terms of the cost of a catastrophic oil spill, bitumen spill, or another toxic substance that’s brought into the province, this has been a fraction of a fraction of that kind of cost and our efforts to protect our environment.”

Though construction is underway, other barriers to the project include a legal dispute on the federal level from Indigenous communities who feel they were not properly consulted before the project’s approval.