The National Energy Board is the primary official way for citizens and organizations to participate in decision making  about pipelines and other resource extraction projects. MEJC applied to participate as an Intervenor, the most effective designation for participants. We were not accepted as Intervenors and were instead downgraded to Commenter status. The denial of Intervenor status means that we do not have a strong voice in the NEB process, cannot effectively contribute our knowledge, and cannot voice our concerns within that process.

Today the Manitoba Energy justice Coalition released a report detailing the legal and political options the Government of Manitoba and the City of Winnipeg have to protect citizens from the risks of the Energy East pipeline proposal.

This report explores additional regulatory and public intervention options, external to the National Energy Board review, that are available at the subnational level for assessing the Energy East pipeline project. The report is especially concerned with climate and environmental impact, and the threat to the Winnipeg aqueduct. Based on the research in this report, MEJC recommends:

• Move the pipeline away from the Winnipeg aqueduct, other drinking water sources, and natural gas lines
• Request the PUB to open an investigation into the safety of the Winnipeg aqueduct
• Request the Clean Environment Commission under its own authority to initiate an investigation into the implications of Energy East
• Carry out public education through the media of hearings (during the CEC and PUB assessments), open houses, pamphlets and flyers at political offices, and press statements.

The Report can be found Here.

For Immediate Release – January 11, 2016

Selinger has Fork-Tongued Position on Pipelines and Climate Change

WINNIPEG – Manitoba Energy Justice Coalition (MEJC) denounced the Manitoba premier’s two-faced comments on the Energy East pipeline following his meeting with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. In a meeting on Friday January 8, Premiers Rachel Notley and Greg Selinger signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding cooperation on national energy issues.

With Justin Trudeau decisively anointed the prime minister-elect by a crimson wave, the country has waived goodbye to 10 years of Conservative majority rule and now has to reckon with the leftovers. The Conservatives have left a completely gutted environmental review process of pipelines and tar sands infrastructure, leaving pipeline projects stuck in review within a National Energy Board process which is fundamentally flawed.  Under a new government there is some reason to be optimistic, though we have our work cut out for us and must remain diligent, in the short and long term, to ensure the Prime Minister is held accountable to his bold and promising campaign declarations.

We paid a visit to the Winnipeg Free Press Cafe to deliver a message to National Energy Board Chair Peter Watson on behalf of 60 Organizations. We were proud to be able to project the voices of people from across the continent opposed to the expansion of the tar sands.

Read the letter we gave to Peter Watson HERE

By Cam Fenton and Alex Paterson

Last July, Manitoba flooded. This province was swamped by rains and rising waters for days, drowning fields, washing out highways and driving hundreds of people from their homes.

The experience here was part of the widespread effects of what is being called the warmest year on record: wildfires across Canada; a record drought in California; a typhoon striking the Philippines for the third time in as many years. This is why the Manitoba Energy Justice Coalition, a coalition of Manitobans and community groups committed to defending the lands, air, and waters, has called for the National Energy Board to review the full climate impacts of the Energy East pipeline.