B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office fines Coastal GasLink Pipeline LTD $346,000 in administrative penalties and $590k for major pipeline ‘deficiencies’ caused by erosion and sediment buildup that go against its environmental assessment. Sediment leaking into the waterways has potential long-term adverse consequences to the local fish, waterways, and landscape, a fact that the Wet’suwet’en Indigenous groups raise complaints about. This fine comes after multiple additional non-compliance and false information fines issued from EAO that combine to 1.3 million for the company.
On September 19th, British Columbia’s Environmental Assessment office fined Coastal Gaslink LTD for the second time this month with two administrative penalties for non-compliance. Earlier this month, on Wednesday, September 11th, the EAO also fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline $590k for deficiencies in its pipeline.
Coastal Gaslink’s pipeline project began in 2019 and is nearing completion late in 2024, but the project has been delayed multiple times, partly because of stop-work orders. Since the project began the EAO has prioritized the project for compliance monitoring and has conducted 100 checks of the project, and issued 59 warnings, 30 orders, 13 stop work orders, as well as 10 administrative penalties for non-compliance with the requirements of Coastal GasLink’s environmental assessment certificate. The fines of $570k originate from April and May 2023 and arise over concerns about erosion and sediment control measures. The last four fines the EAO issued were for $800,000 each, and a fifth fine of $6000 also came in for providing false or misleading information. The combined cost of the fines will cost the company 1.3 million.
The Environmental Assessment Office’s report declared that the nature of Costal Gaslink’s non-compliance is considered major, and the adverse effects are considered medium. Some of the latest fines were due to testing along a 14-kilometer stretch where results revealed sediment buildup had leaked into waterways. The high level of sediment in waterways is a hazard to fish and their eggs, and can be destructive to their habitat. The significant long-term effects of sediment leakage are not fully known as they range over a wide geographical area and have continued over a prolonged period.
Image from Research Gate
Impacts to the Community
Complaints arise from local community members about the rising cost of the project beyond the initial estimation and the pollution of the waterways and land caused by the pipeline. B.C. Green Party’s Leader Sonia Furstenau states in an interview that “CGL’s track record demonstrates... a lack of respect for the land, water, and fish.” Sonia Furstenau is not the only one troubled by the Coastal Gaslink’s work on the project. The 670-kilometer pipeline ranges from Kitimat to Groundburch near Dawson Creek and spans over Wet'suwet'en Indigenous unceded territory. The Indigenous group has raised multiple complaints about the project.
The Wet’suwet’en Indigenous group first raised concerns in 2019 during the Environmental Assessment for the project, questioning the impacts on environmentally sensitive receptors such as waterways and wetlands during the construction—a major concern as the pipeline crosses 625 lakes, creeks, wetlands, and streams. As the pipeline project continued, several Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and their supporters opposed the pipeline’s construction, going under the name of ‘water protectors’. This group has gathered international attention and has been subject to RCMP arrests and court proceedings for their opposition to the project which is legal under Canadian law. Coastal Gaslink assured communities that their top priority was the safety of the land and working with Indigenous members, but questions about their procedure arose as just last month, Coastal GasLink spilled a clay lubricant while tunneling under the Wedzin Kwa or the Morice River, a salmon-bearing river and a sacred headwater for the Wet’suwet’en.
In a report from Coastal Gaslink on September 21st, the company reports that it took “immediate and decisive action” to address the issues when EAO first reported them in April and May 2023. The report also states that “Coastal Gaslink respects the role our regulators have in upholding the high standards we are committed to meeting. Those standards matter to the Indigenous and local communities, to the people of British Columbia, and they matter to us.”
Coastal GasLink is now nearing completion, reporting the pipeline is 94% complete as of September 21st, and estimates that the project will be complete by the end of the year.
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