An interesting sidebar from Enbridge on the Northern Gateway destination

With the Northern Gateway hearings in a recess at the moment, news of developments along the hearing trail are less frequent these days.

 However a report out of Prince George today, might perk up the ears of opponents to the project in the Prince Rupert/North Coast region.

The Prince George Citizen has posted an item to their website with the working title of "No plans to shift pipeline terminus to Prince Rupert" 

The article offers up an interesting review of the process thus far with Enbridge re-affirming its commitment to the terminal in Kitimat, with "no plans to shift its terminal from Kitimat to Prince Rupert, unless asked to do so by the National Energy Board".

A line that will most likely catch the attention of the local opponents to the project, fearful that the opposition to the Kitimat destination may result in a re-routing of the project further west to Prince Rupert, away from the controversial route through Douglas Channel.

There's no particular evidence that this is actually a working prospect, though in the past there have been suggestions that the project might yet be due for a course correction, if the Kitimat option is rebuffed.

The floating of the Prince Rupert destination again, gains a bit of traction today owing to the most recent thoughts from Enbridge CEO Al Monaco, appearing in the Globe and Mail on Wednesday.

Reviewing the progress of the hearings thus far, he outlined the research done into the Kitimat route, but seemingly leaves the door open for "going to other places".

Which we guess would be Prince Rupert.

Ivan Giesbrecht who is the company spokesperson on the file, told the Prince George Citizen that  he didn't want to "speculate about what might happen to the company's plans if Prince Rupert was brought back on the table".

He may not want to speculate on what might happen, but one thing seems certain, any change of that nature would mean yet more hearings beyond what's on the Northern Gateway agenda at the moment.

And with that, we imagine more protests are in store locally for the most controversial project in recent British Columbia History.

For some background on the Northern Gateway process so far, you can review our archive of Northern Gateway information here.