Mayor and council have learned that Kitimat will be bypassed during the Joint Review Panel final hearings on the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project.
Given the significant impact this project will have on Kitimat, council has sent a letter to the National Energy Board in Calgary requesting they reconsider their decision.
The District of Kitimat was dumbfounded as to why they would exclude the most critical location in the Northern Gateway Project. Enbridge's pipelines will terminate in Kitimat, and the new marine terminal for shipping bitumen and receiving condensate will be located here.
"Our community will not only be subjected tot he risks posed by the two pipelines, but also is the only community along the pipeline route that will be assuming risks associated with tanker traffic in Douglas Channel, "said mayor Joanne Monaghan.
In other JRP news, the scheduled hearing in Calgary Aug. 1 was cancelled due to lack of interest, only adding to the argument that BC residents are stepping up big in their fight against Enbridge. Calgary is the base for Enbridge and officials say less than 15 people have registered to make statements at the hearing causing the cancellation.
Earlier this month, a similar public hearing on the pipeline set for Edmonton was cancelled for the same reason.
More than 4,000 people in B.C. have registered to make comments on the project.
Alberta and Ottawa support the pipeline, but Premier Christy Clark says B.C. wants a bigger share of the economic benefits before it will endorse the project.
The latest JRP hearings were held in Bella Bella on July 27 and Smithers July 30. The communities scheduled for upcoming JRP hearings include Port Hardy August 7, Comox August 8, and in Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna in January and February 2012.