A coalition of community groups and a First Nation in Northern British Columbia launched a legal challenge against the BC Energy Regulator (BCER) for allegedly bypassing legal requirements by allowing pipeline construction to begin without a complete environmental impact assessment.

The Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, Kispiox Valley Community Centre Association, and Kispiox Band filed a judicial review this week, represented by Ecojustice lawyers. They aim to "hold the BCER to account for breaking its own rules and ignoring concerns from communities directly impacted by the project," according to a press release.

The project in question is the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline (PRGT), which will transport natural gas to the Pacific for export. 

BCER’s pipeline challenge is separate from recent protests by Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs and activists who blockaded service roads and burned pipeline benefits agreements.

Kispiox Band Chief Councillor Kolin Sutherland-Wilson told Canada’s National Observer that a full and up-to-date cumulative impact assessment is necessary before the community can form an opinion on the project, which would pass seven kilometers from Kispiox village.

"We've witnessed everything that's happened with Coastal GasLink," Sutherland-Wilson said. "We've seen the resulting runoff, the lack of controls, especially with projects of this scale and this particular industry—the natural gas pipeline industry."

One consequence of the construction would be a 500-meter-wide clearcut "that would essentially bisect our valley," Sutherland-Wilson explained. This would create issues such as sedimentation in waterways, impacts on salmon spawning habitat, and community members' ability to harvest on the land. 

Additionally, a Parliamentary study linked man camps associated with the project to violence against Indigenous women and girls.

B.C’s PRGT pipeline was purchased by the Nisga'a Nation and their industry partner, Western LNG, from TC Energy in March. The proposed pipeline, designed to transport natural gas about 775 kilometers from northeastern B.C. to Ksi Lisims, will connect Coastal GasLink to the Ksi Lisims terminal, a joint venture between the Nisga'a and Western LNG.

Construction on the pipeline began last week on a subsection that sits on Nisga'a lands.