National Energy Board to restart review of Energy East pipeline proposal

The new ruling assessing TransCanada Corps.’s proposed Energy East pipeline will restart the review process.

“The new Hearing Panel assigned to review the Energy East and Eastern Mainline applications has voided all decisions made by the previous Hearing Panel,” the board said in a short release Friday. “These decisions will be removed from the official hearing record.”

The previous Energy East pipeline panel stepped down amidst questions about a potential conflict of interest last year.

At that point chair Peter Watson and vice-chair Lyne Mercier were blamed for an conflict of interest for meeting secretly with a paid adviser for the pipeline’s supporter, Calgary-based TransCanada, to talk about general opinions around the controversial venture.

The new three-member board will be leaded by Don Ferguson, a previous senior government employee in New Brunswick.

The other panelists are Carole Malo, a previous VP at engineering giant SNC-Lavalin, and Marc Paquin, a Quebec-construct legal adviser focused on environmental law.

The past board’s choices have additionally been rendered void for another TransCanada pipeline application, for the Eastern Mainline venture along the north shore of Lake Ontario.