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Enbridge public hearings in Terrace officially over today

The federal review panel will now prepare a final report for the government

The final federal review hearings on the Enbridge Northern Gateway project wrapped up just before 1 p.m. today, with 15 of the original 34 speakers (representing 40 groups) participating in the concluding panel session.

In this, the bottom-up segment, presenters had a chance to respond to those who had come after them in the first round.

Of the 15 who participated in the second segment, five were physically present in Terrace. These included Enbridge, Douglas Channel Watch, The Government of Canada, C.J. Peter Associates Engineering and environmental steward Josette Wier—the others all gave their responses through teleconferencing.

Enbridge took two hours to respond, while, according to National Energy Board regulatory officer Louise Niro, the average presentation time was about fifteen minutes.

Those who attended by conference call included the Heiltsuk Tribal Council, the Haisla and Gitxaala Nations, the Government of Alberta, Driftpile Cree Nation, Forest Ethics, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Nature Canada, Alexander First Nations and Coastal First Nations.

Now the joint review panel has until the end of 2013 to prepare its final report to present to the federal government who will then make the final decision whether to approve the project and on what conditions.

Niro said that, if accepted, certificates would be issued containing a list of conditions that Enbridge would have to meet, and that a draft certificate would be presented to all the intervenors who participated in the review hearings before being finalized.

Because the proposal calls for a twin pipeline, one to transport diluted bitumen and the other for condensed natural gas, at least two certificates would need to be drafted, Niro said.

The seven day final hearings marked the conclusion of an 18-month review process that saw 1,200 oral statements made and the involvement of 215 intervenors representing individuals and groups.

The Northern Gateway pipeline would connect the Alberta oil sands at an outlet north of Edmonton to a proposed tanker terminal in Kitimat, a length of 1,170 kilometres.