While Canada’s energy leaders were gathering at the World Petroleum Congress last week a drama with potentially larger long-term implications for the country’s energy future was playing out in a Calgary boardroom..That’s where the Canadian Energy Regulator (CER) was hearing an appeal from Trans Mountain Corp. to reroute a 1.4 km section of the pipeline through territory a Kamloops indigenous community considers sacred..By all accounts, it wasn’t a typical regulatory hearing and underscores a very real and growing communication gap — and how it is conveyed — by all parties involved. And it illustrates the challenges — both from a regulatory and practical perception — of trying to get a major infrastructure project built in Canada.. TransMountain (TMX) expansion routeTransMountain (TMX) expansion route .The proceedings began with ‘oral indigenous knowledge’ from members of the Stk'emlupsemc te Secwepemc Nation (SSN), who are opposing the application, featuring drumming and chanting entered as evidence..Speaking in an indigenous language, SSN member Jeanette Jules, who is both a genealogist and residential school survivor, recounted the Secwepemc creation myth — the Trout Children — in a combination of traditional narrative and song..It tells the story of a lonely woman who fashions a child from mud, only to see it washed away. Then she makes one from wood, but it’s burned by fire. On and so on, to convey the interconnected relationship of all things to the land, and specifically the Pipsell region of Jacko Lake where Trans Mountain is proposing to reroute around a mountain..At the hearing, Jules insisted she was giving the “short version." In traditional culture the telling of the story could go on for days..“It tells us how we are related to the Sky People. It tells us how we are to look after everything on Mother Earth,” she said. “When you go and you look at this room and what I'm doing here today and speaking about my connection to the land and to everything that is there in Pipsell, it's our perspective as Secwépemc people.”.“But when you go and look at the Western science, Western science wants documented data and you have to look at both… and the non-Indian perspective of economics, what is economics to us. We do not want anyone destroying, touching any of the sacred sites we have.”.And she warned: “We also have a term… it means that the Earth will turn on you if you don’t look after it and don’t show proper protocol and respect — something that all of us have always done.”.For its part, Trans Mountain clashed on a point of order whether the panel should adopt the opening statement as evidence..Trans Mountain testified it had obtained a mutual benefits agreement with the community on the premise it would explore the concept of “trenchless construction” around the area in question — drilling through a mountain — to overcome their opposition to the project..However, it denied making a commitment to tunnel through the mountain until it was determined to be technically feasible or not. In applying for the reroute, the company now says even though it is ‘technically’ feasible to drill a 48-inch shaft more than four kilometres through granitic bed rock, it’s now impractical from a cost and time point of view..If it is forced to proceed with the tunnel, start up could be delayed a minimum of nine months and potentially into the first quarter of 2025. .It also says there is an unacceptable risk of geotechnical failure that could damage the integrity of the line and cause bigger, unforeseen problems down the road..Lawyers for the SSN argue the main consideration at this point are time delays and financial considerations, given the line is more than $20 billion over budget and delayed by almost five years..“I assume your colleagues were getting instructions straight from the top that scheduling was the top priority?” asked one..To which an expert panelist replied: “There were several priorities. But yes, scheduling was one of them.”.The hearings concluded on Friday, but no decision has been made. The board generally tries to make a decision within 12 weeks but this particular application has been expedited. Any ruling can be appealed to the Federal Court within 30 days of a decision.
