Calgary (Platts)--5Sep2014/332 pm EDT/1932 GMT

The Gitxsan First Nations group is opposing TransCanada's Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline that will pass through a 35-km (22 mile) stretch in its reserve area in the Suskwa Valley in northeast British Columbia, a band official said Friday.

The pipeline will impact the group's rights to its traditional land, particularly salmon fishing, said Beverley Clifton Percival, the community's negotiator.

The band has now started setting up camps in its lands from the Suskwa Pass to the Shegunia River to create further awareness amongst its 5,000-odd members, she said.

"They (TransCanada) have also violated our constitutional right of consultations and submitted an application this summer for an environmental assessment certificate for the pipeline," she said.

"In July, we served a notice to [Canadian National] Rail to stop operations in our area and since then eviction notices have also been served for logging and sports fishing," Clifton Percival said.

TransCanada in May filed an application with the British Columbia government for the environment assessment certificate, information posted on the company website said, adding since then it has also filed addendums for "route alterations."

CROWN LAND

The 900-km (560-mile) pipeline will run from the District of Hudson to Lelu Island on the Canadian Pacific Coast and will deliver 2 Bcf/d-3.6 Bcf/d of feedstock gas for a grassoot LNG export facility that Pacific NorthWest LNG Company plans to build on the island.

With a price tag of about C$5 billion ($4.68 billion), construction work on the 48-inch-diameter pipeline is due to start in 2015 with an in-service date of late 2018.

The dispute involves Crown Land and the matter should be addressed by the province's attorney general, said Davis Sheremata, a TransCanada spokesman. Sheremata added that since the project was announced in January 2013 his company has maintained a "good working relationship" with the Gitxsan Nation and its Hereditary Chiefs, particularly with those houses that will be directly affected by the pipeline project.

"We will continue our efforts to engage the Hereditary Chiefs on the blockaded land to discuss access and allow our environmental and geotechnical fieldwork on their traditional territory to continue," he said in an e-mail.

TALKS WITH BC GOVERNMENT

Sheremata did not indicate if TransCanada's addendum for route alterations would be accepted by the Gitxsan community. But added the proposed changes are in response to feedback from consultation with Aboriginal groups, stakeholders, the public and further engineering analysis.

"They (the Gitxsan) have been holding talks with the BC government this week, but time will tell what the outcome will be," Ravina Bains, associate director with the Center for Aboriginal Policy at the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute, said Friday.

Legally, the Gitxsan band cannot stop the pipeline to pass through its territory, she said, noting the band's notice on CN was subsequently overruled by a court of law in British Columbia with there being no disruption in services.

"The First Nations groups do not have a veto power, but they will always insist on their right to be consulted," Bains said. "Oil and gas companies should increasingly realize the need for them to talk more to these bands."

--Ashok Dutta, newsdesk@platts.com
--Edited by Richard Rubin, richard.rubin@platts.com

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