Tensions high during Quebec's environmental hearings into Energy East pipeline

• Energy East pipeline: What you need to know about the Quebec hearings

Villeneuve, 46, a little shaken, replies he would love to buysuch a car.

• Quebec's Energy East pipeline hearings get off to rocky start

"But there is oil in the car you drove here, isn't there?"Morin aggressively counters, before storming off into the room whereTransCanada vice-president Louis Bergeron istrying to assuage localconcerns about the proposed pipeline.

Villeneuve smiles and says, "He's been after me for days. Idon't know that guy's name but he hates allenvironmentalists."

Hearings over, for now

On Friday, Quebec's environmental review agency wrapped up twoweeks of hearings into the Energy East proposal by TransCanada (TSX:TRP). More hearings are scheduled to beginApril 25.

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Every day, Quebecers lined up at the back of the room inside amodern hockey complex across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec Cityin order to register to grill Bergeron and officials from theNational Energy Board and Environment and Climate Change Canada.

The hearings were civil but tense as the majority of participantsvoiced either outright opposition to the pipeline or high levels ofskepticism about TransCanada's promises to safely transport 1.1million of barrels of oil daily through Quebec territory.

Many of the participants were retired, middle-class parents whostarted their own environmental organizations out of theirbasements.

What residents said

Irene Dupuis, 65, a retired elementary school teacher, co-foundedher environmental group with her sister, Carole.

"Under what circumstances is TransCanada not responsible forspills?" she asked the commission.

"What if its IT system ishacked, what about vandalism, earthquakes?"

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Bergeron said a new federal law coming into effect this summerstipulates companies like his will be entirelyresponsible for up to$1 billion in cleanup costs associated with a spill, regardless ofwho is at fault.

"What about if a spill costs $1.1 billion?" Dupuis pressed,ignoring the one-question rule.

TransCanada will still have to pay upfront but can try and recoupthe money from those responsible, Bergeron said.

Environmental concerns

Outside the conference room, Dupuis said TransCanada's promisesmean little to her.

"Every day when I drive my grandson to daycare, he asks me aboutthe colour of the St. Lawrence River," she said.

'Why is it bluetoday?' he asks me. 'Why is it greyish today?' I don't want him toask me one day why it's black."

Denis Desmeules, 59, a retired health-care worker, volunteers fora Quebec City-area environmental group that opposes pipelines.

"The science shows us global warming is real," he said. "Sowhen will we stop?

"Thepeoplewhoworkintheindustry,theywantasalary,theywanttopayfortheircar,theywanttowork.Environmentaliststhreaten their livelihoods."

Impact ontheeconomy

One of those threatened is Morin, who after calming down from hisencounter with Villeneuve, lights a cigarette outside the hockeycomplex and discusses his frustrations.

"I have no problem with environmentalists," says the truckdriver.

"But they should arrive here on foot or in electric cars ifthey are going to criticize oil and pipelines.

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"I am for the pipeline. It moves the economy. It gives us work."

He says Quebecers want expensive services but refuse majorprojects that can pay for them.

"We can't have it all," he argues.

"Daycares at $7 a day paidfor with money from other provinces. We want parental leave for men.Then we reject energy projects."

• FORUM The environment and the economy can we have it all?

The project'sscope

TransCanada wants to build a 4,600-kilometre pipeline fromAlberta and Saskatchewan's oil deposits to a marine terminal in NewBrunswick.

In between, the pipeline is supposed to cross hundreds ofkilometres of Quebec territory, connecting to refineries in Montrealand Quebec City.

Final approval rests with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinetafter a review by the federal National Energy Board.

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Quebec's environmental review board is scheduled to produce areport in November. While its recommendations are not legallybinding, Trudeau will have a difficult time green-lighting theproject if it's rejected in Quebec.