Dear Editor:

Story after story characterizes Trans Mountain expansion approval as based on facts and evidence. However, the source of these appears to be a 2016 National Energy Board recommendation.

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In May of this year, an expert panel convened by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) confirmed Canada’s loss of confidence in the National Energy Board (NEB). The ECCC-convened panel’s 2017 report recommends a new joint process with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency for environmental assessment review.

When I see Kinder Morgan submit as evidence a study of diluted bitumen in which no conclusion could be drawn because the researcher forgot to bring a ruler large enough to measure the contents of a five-gallon container, I am forced to conclude the NEB review process is indeed broken. Project submissions should be free of such silliness and Kinder Morgan’s project should receive no special favour.

Our government ought to subject Trans Mountain expansion to a joint review deserving of Canadians’ confidence.

Christine Leclerc, Burnaby