PRINCE GEORGE (NEWS1130) – The environmental assessment panel examining the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline returns to Prince George today, for final hearings that will put the project’s environmental impact and emergency planning under a microscope.

The hearings will see the proponent, Enbridge Northern Gateway, scientists and project critics questioned under oath about the evidence they’ve submitted to the panel.

“As the project proponent, we intend to demonstrate to British Columbians and to all Canadians through the examination of the facts and science upon which this project application is based that there is a path forward that provides for prosperity while protecting the environment,” Janet Holder, the Enbridge’s vice-president of western access, said in a statement on Friday. “The [panel] is the appropriate forum for this confidence-building exercise with Canadians.”

But company officials may take a back seat to federal government representatives, who will be subject to questioning for the first time since hearings began earlier this year.

Several participants in the panel hearings have been so keen to get answers on everything from regulatory changes to government budget cuts that the panel has already tried to rein in the cross-examinations.

“It will be the first set of hearings where the federal government will be on the stand. That will be interesting,” notes Nikki Skuce, of ForestEthics, one of the groups taking part in the hearings.

People from Aboriginal Affairs, Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans, Natural Resources and Transport Canada will be answering questions on evidence those ministries have provided to the panel as it weighs the project.

The Conservative government has been roundly criticized for its support of a tanker port on the West Coast that would give Canadian oil producers access to Asian markets.

At least a dozen groups and individuals will be allowed to question the federal government representatives.

Several conservation and First Nations groups will forego attending the hearings in Prince George and focus on Prince Rupert, where the tanker port and shipping will be under scrutiny.

The proposed pipeline would transport diluted bitumen from the Alberta oil sands in Bruderheim, across northern BC to a tanker port planned for Kitimat.