NEB confirms review panel for Energy East pipeline proposal

The National Energy Board has officially appointed three new members to a panel that will restart the stalled review of the proposed Energy East pipeline.

The previous Energy East pipeline panel stepped down amidst questions about a potential conflict of interest last year.

The new three-member panel will be headed by Don Ferguson, a former senior civil servant in New Brunswick.

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The other panelists are Carole Malo, a former vice-president at engineering giant SNC-Lavalin, and Marc Paquin, a Quebec-based lawyer focused on environmental law.

The three were appointed as temporary new members to the National Energy Board board in December by Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr and the arms-length agency announced Monday that they will sit on the pipeline review.

The hearings were stalled last fall after NEB chairman Peter Watson and vice-chair Lyne Mercier were accused of a conflict of interest for meeting privately with a paid consultant for the pipeline's backer, Calgary-based TransCanada, to discuss public opinion around the controversial project.

The review panel will examine a proposed 4,500-kilometre pipeline that would carry 1.1-million barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta and Saskatchewan to refineries in Eastern Canada and a marine terminal in New Brunswick.

It includes a proposal to build approximately 279 kilometres of new gas pipeline and related components in four sections, beginning near Markham, Ont., and finishing near Brouseville, Ont.