The National Energy Board will tell the federal government on Friday whether it still thinks the Trans Mountain pipeline should be expanded, but cabinet's final say on the project's future is not likely to come before the summer.JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press
The National Energy Board is rejecting a call made by an environmental group last month to greatly expand the scope of its reconsideration of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
Stand.earth filed a motion to the federal regulator on Jan. 21, asking that it add consideration of the project’s upstream and downstream greenhouse gas emissions to its review of project-related marine shipping issues.
It asked the board to apply the same standard to the project as it did with the Energy East pipeline before it submits its final report to the federal government, expected this Friday.
But the federal regulator says in a ruling on its website that its reconsideration is designed only to address issues arising out of the Federal Court of Appeal ruling in August that set aside its previous approval.
It says Stand.earth’s proposal missed its deadlines and that the issue Stand.earth raised has been dealt with previously.