Grand Chief to raise concerns with heads of Trans-Canada Energy East Pipeline, National Energy Board and Enbridge Pipelines

02/10/2015

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) wishes to advise the community that Grand Chief Michael Ahríhron Delisle, Jr. is travelling to Calgary, Alberta today to raise concerns with the heads of the National Energy Board (NEB), Enbridge Pipelines, Inc. and Trans-Canada – which is the proponent of the Energy East Pipeline to be built to transport oil from western Canada to refineries in Quebec and New Brunswick.

“From the very beginning we have taken an extremely active role in defending our interests and promoting measures to protect the environment,” said Grand Chief Michael Ahríhron Delisle, Jr. “We will make sure that our questions, concerns and recommendations are heard loudly and clearly.”

The MCK has had a positive effect on Enbridge’s application to reverse the flow and increase the capacity of its Line 9B running between Ontario and Montreal. After hearings conducted in 2013 by the National Energy Board, in which the MCK participated, the regulating body agreed that Enbridge needed to address several issues before their proposal was approved.

“While we applaud the NEB for imposing these conditions, we will not take anything for granted,” Grand Chief Delisle added. “We have no problem bringing the issues to the highest levels possible, hence our trip to Calgary.”

Grand Chief Delisle will be accompanied by MCK Legal Services lawyer Francis Walsh, Kahnawà:ke Environment Protection Office Advisor Patrick Ragaz and MCK technician Dennis Diabo. The meeting with Trans-Canada takes place on Wednesday, while the meetings with National Energy and Enbridge take place on Thursday.

“Finally, just to be clear, there is no plan to allow any pipelines to come through Kahnawà:ke,” he said, commenting on rumors circulating on social media. “We don’t always comment on deliberate misinformation but we felt it necessary to provide the correct information on this very emotional and important issue. We always have our community’s best interest at heart – we live here, too.”