Engagement on Energy East hearing design

Four Board Members to carry out expanded indigenous and public engagement

June 5, 2017 – Calgary, Alberta – National Energy Board

The National Energy Board (NEB) has launched an initiative to gather input from Indigenous peoples and the public to help shape the hearing process and other engagement activities for the Energy East and Eastern Mainline projects. The comment period ends on 15 July 2017.

These activities will be led by a team of four Board Members who are independent from the Hearing Panel: Alain Jolicoeur, Wilma Jacknife, Damien Côté and Ronald Durelle. They will be gathering comments by meeting with Indigenous peoples and through a new online engagement platform.

The four Board Members hope to engage with many of the more than 200 groups of indigenous peoples who may be impacted by the projects. One of the key aspects of these discussions will be to identify the best ways to collect oral traditional evidence.

Relevant findings from these engagement efforts will be filed on the official record for the Hearing Panel to consider as they design the Energy East and Eastern Mainline hearing process.

The expanded engagement activities announced are in keeping with the Government of Canada’s Interim Measures for Pipeline Reviews.

The National Energy Board is an independent federal regulator of several parts of Canada’s energy industry. It regulates pipelines, energy development and trade in the public interest with safety as its primary concern. For more information on the NEB and its mandate, please visit www.neb-one.gc.ca.

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Quick Facts

• The NEB is committed to hearing from indigenous peoples in a way that respects their values and traditions. Indigenous peoples have an oral tradition for sharing lessons and knowledge from generation to generation. Since this information cannot always be shared adequately or appropriately in writing, the NEB is inviting Indigenous peoples to provide oral traditional evidence as has been done in previous hearings.
• On 31 May 2017, a comment period on documents to establish the scope of the assessment for the Energy East and Eastern Mainline projects ended.
• Energy East is a proposed 4,500-kilometre pipeline that would carry 1.1 million barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta and Saskatchewan to refineries in Eastern Canada and a marine terminal in New Brunswick.
• The Eastern Mainline Pipeline is a proposal to build approximately 279 kilometres of new gas pipeline and related components, beginning near Markham, Ontario and finishing near Brouseville, Ontario.

Associated Links

• Energy East and Eastern Mainline online engagement platform

Contacts

Sarah Kiley
Communications Officer
National Energy Board
Email: sarah.kiley@neb-one.gc.ca
Telephone: 403-614-6526
Telephone (toll-free) 1-800-899-1265

Marc Drolet
Communications Officer
National Energy Board
Email: marc.drolet@neb-one.gc.ca
Telephone: 514-283-2261

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