A panel of three judges unanimously ruled that the process adopted in approving the pipeline project was flawed as argued by certain First Nations, the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, and two non-governmental agencies in their lawsuit.
The court also agreed to the argument from the plaintiffs that the Canadian government did not fulfill its legal duty of consulting indigenous people.
Following the unfavorable court decision, Kinder Morgan said that it will take measures to suspend construction on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.
The Federal Court of Appeal in its ruling said that the National Energy Board made one “critical error” which was the exclusion of project-related tanker traffic while defining the scope of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.
The exclusion allowed the National Energy Board to conclude that the project was unlikely to have major adverse environmental effects in spite of noting that the operation of project-related marine vessels could potentially lead to significant adverse effects to the Southern resident killer whale.
Kinder Morgan Canada president Ian Anderson, said: “We are reviewing the decision with the Government of Canada and are taking the appropriate time to assess next steps.
“We remain committed to building this Project in consideration of communities and the environment, with meaningful consultation with Indigenous Peoples and for the benefit of Canadians.”
Anderson added that Trans Mountain is presently taking steps to suspend construction related activities on the pipeline expansion project in a safe and orderly manner.
He also said that the court decision was not a condition of the deal made between Kinder Morgan and the Canadian government in May 2018 under which the latter agreed to buy the Trans Mountain Pipeline system and the expansion project for C$4.5bn ($3.5bn).
The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project has been designed to be a twinning of the 1,150km-long existing Trans Mountain Pipeline laid between Strathcona County near Edmonton in Alberta and Burnaby in British Columbia. The pipeline expansion project has been taken up to increase the pipeline capacity of Trans Mountain from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels of oil per day.
