Coastal GasLink Issued Fifth Stop Work Order of the Week, This Time Covering a Section of the Contentious Morice River Watershed

Failures to adequately control sediment and erosion have earned Coastal GasLink their fifth stop-work order of the week.

Issued by the Environmental Assessment Office, the newest order covers an 11 kilometre stretch of their pipeline route southwest of Houston.

It follows an inspection from May 4th which uncovered activities in contravention of EAO requirements related to erosion and sediment control.

Inspectors say those activities have impacted the Morice River watershed, and the EAO has ordered work cease until the issues can be remedied.

That section of the pipeline has faced strong opposition from the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, owing mostly to their ecological concerns.

Those concerns have led to numerous confrontations between police and land defenders in the years since construction began.

But, it isn’t the only section of the route currently covered under a stop work order, with the EAO issuing four more earlier this week.

Issued for similar reasons, those orders cover a 15 kilometre stretch near the Little Anzac River, just east of McLeod Lake.

CGL says that the issues are owing to a tough spring melt, warming conditions, and the complex mountainous terrain of the area.

They say they have more than 700 workers actively monitoring and implementing erosion and sediment control measures across the project.

There are currently six active stop work orders along the route, which won’t be lifted until follow-up inspections are passed.