First Nations proposes Northern Gateway pipeline alternative following plebiscite setback – by Yadullah Hussain and Jeff Lewis (National Post – April 15, 2014)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

TORONTO/CALGARY — As Enbridge Inc. reels from the rejection by residents of Kitimat, B.C. of the Northern Gateway pipeline, a First Nations-led consortium is seeking to build an alternative project that would link Alberta’s oil sands to the British Columbia coast.

Eagle Spirit Energy Holdings Ltd. and Vancouver-based Aquilini Group say they have signed non-disclosure agreements with a “substantial number” of First Nation groups in northern B.C., including some “staunchly opposed” to the Enbridge project.

The one-million barrel-per-day pipeline has a tentative 2020 start date once it secures a “social licence” from First Nations to operate, the group said at a media conference in Vancouver on Monday.

“The only licence that matters to do this [project] in British Columbia is the social licence from the First Nations community,” said Calvin Helin, chairman and president of Eagle Spirit Energy Holdings, noting that he spent a year and a half listening carefully to the feedback from and concerns of First Nations. The group will file an application with the National Energy Board only after it has addressed all First Nations’ concerns and issues.

Mr. Helin would not put a value on the Eagle Spirit project, but said the pipeline alone is comparable to the US$25-billion Trans Alaska pipeline that runs across the length of Alaska.

The Aquilini family, which owns the Vancouver Canucks as well as a vast array of development and agricultural companies, said it will underwrite the cost of the pipeline as long as it gets support of all First Nations through whose territory the pipeline would travel.

The project announcement comes two days after residents of Kitimat, the proposed end location for Northern Gateway, voted against the $7.9-billion project in a non-binding plebiscite.

The Eagle Spirit project offers substantial economic benefits to First Nations and would be located away from the congested and “torturous” pathways of Kitimat, Mr. Helin said in an interview, adding that he had three locations in mind.

“First Nations do not believe Kitimat is an appropriate marine terminus because it is exposes the coastline to too much risk,” Mr. Helin said.

For the rest of this article, click here: http://business.financialpost.com/2014/04/14/northern-gateway-plebiscite-setback-could-open-door-for-aboriginal-mega-project/?__lsa=90b5-3e4b