B.C. comes to Gateway hearing to make sure it will not be on the hook for spills

EDMONTON – British Columbia’s environment minister is sitting in on federal hearings for the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline, saying he wants to make sure his province is not left holding the bag in the event of an oil spill.

Terry Lake says officials with the B.C. government will ask Enbridge officials about liability insurance and corporate structure at the hearing, being held in Edmonton.

Leading the B.C. team is former provincial attorney general Geoff Plant, who will oversee the questions asked of Northern Gateway president John Carruthers and six economists.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark has said her province won’t consider signing off on the $6-billion pipeline project until its concerns on profit sharing and safety are met.

The line, if approved, would ship oilsands crude from Alberta across B.C. wilderness and wetlands to a port at Kitimat for shipment by tankers to Asian markets.

Lake says when the hearings move into B.C. next month the province will focus more on emergency spill preparedness and other core environmental and safety issues.