The company behind a contentious natural gas pipeline project in northern B.C. has been fined a third time for non-compliance with environmental orders, according to the provincial government.
The Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) has fined Coastal GasLink $213,600 for what the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy described as “continued deficiencies with erosion and sediment control measures” identified during inspections of pipeline construction in February 2022.
The ministry says similar issues over the past year have led to enforcement action but noted improvements since Coastal GasLink and the EAO entered into a compliance agreement last summer.
The latest penalty is related to a section of the pipeline route near Kitimat in northwest B.C. before the signing of the agreement.
Additional penalties recommended by enforcement officers following other inspections last year are under consideration, the ministry said.
There have been more than 50 inspections along the pipeline construction route since the project’s inception in 2019, the ministry says. The Environmental Assessment Office has issued 37 warnings and 17 orders.
A penalty of $72,500 was issued in February 2022, and another $170,100 fine was issued three months later.
Coastal GasLink’s pipeline is set to bring gas fracked in northeastern B.C. to an LNG terminal in Kitimat.
The project is opposed by some Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs.