A local environmental group worries they’ve barred from attending an upcoming hearing to determine whether the city can collect fees from Enbridge.
A 20-year agreement between Enbridge and the City of Guelph allowing the use of municipal easements is set to expire.
In the fall, the City of Guelph called on the province to allow municipalities to charge for-profit gas utility companies fees for the use of public lands, something done in provinces like Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Enbridge wants to renew the agreement unchanged, and so the Ontario Energy Board was brought in to make the final decision, at a hearing to be held at a later date.
eMERGE Guelph, which lobbied the city to collect the fees in the first place, is waiting on a decision as to whether it has been denied intervenor status at the hearing.
"Enbridge is getting free access to use our public lands for its pipelines. Pipeline companies in other jurisdictions (including Alberta and Saskatchewan) pay millions of dollars in fees to use public lands. We should be able to charge fees too. Guelph needs the revenue," said Evan Ferrari, executive director of eMERGE.
"Free access to our public lands is an unfair fossil fuel subsidy. Natural gas is actually methane gas and a huge contributor to climate change. Burning this gas causes one-third of our overall emissions in Ontario. We should not be subsidizing this."
Not only that, but in some cases, they can ask the city to pay them.
“If the municipality asks Enbridge to move some of their infrastructure, Enbridge has the right to charge the municipality to do that,” he said. “Frankly, it just doesn’t make sense.
“If we applied the same funding formula that Enbridge paid the City of Edmonton, based on the population of Guelph, it would amount to almost $9 million a year,” Ferrari said.
A lot of money, especially given recent municipal budget cuts to environmental initiatives, he said.
Ferrari said eMERGE lobbied the city, which eventually showed "overwhelming" support to negotiate a realistic price for the use of right of way with Enbridge.
But if they did get a deal with Enbridge, technically provincial legislation wouldn’t permit it, so they lobbied MPP Mike Schreiner, too.
He introduced a bill to close the loophole, which effectively died when the election was called. However, Ferrari said Schreiner has vowed to bring it forward once more.
eMERGE had applied for intervenor status at the hearing, arguing they have the best interest of either rate payers or citizens or a specific issue related to the energy provider, he said.
“In our case, we have a fairly large constituency, and our concern is not only the cost side of it, but the climate change issue,” he said. “Why are we subsidizing a fossil fuel company in Guelph right now?”
But Enbridge objected to their intervenor request, encouraging the OEB to block them from the hearing and to limit the City of Guelph's intervention.
“It is unclear how eMERGE Guelph has any substantial interest in this proceeding. There is no indication that eMERGE Guelph has any authority to speak for the City of Guelph and the city’s residents or that there are even residents within the City of Guelph associated with eMERGE Guelph who would have a material interest impacted by this proceeding,” the intervenor objection from Enbridge states.
"Enbridge is trying to get the OEB to force Guelph to continue this fossil fuel subsidy for 20 years by locking us into an agreement to provide free access to our lands against the will of our elected council," he said. "Enbridge is fighting hard to maintain the subsidy. It is even trying to get the OEB to shut us out of the hearing."
The city also applied for intervenor status and is currently waiting hearing date confirmation from the OEB, according to Jayne Holmes, deputy chief administrative officer of infrastructure, development and environment.
"Instructions to staff were given on Nov. 26 to form the basis of negotiations with Enbridge," she said. "Assuming the OEB grants the city’s request for intervenor status, the city intends to participate in the hearing."
Prior to the hearing, she said staff will be seeking additional direction from council in light of the recommendation to the OEB from Enbridge that the city's intervention be limited to the "scope of the proceeding," which is the renewal of the franchise agreement.
Holmes noted the city is acting independently of eMERGE and that only the OEB can grant intervenor status.
In response to being shut out, eMERGE launched a letter writing campaign to the Ontario Energy Board to allow them to attend the hearing.
“We think we have a right to be there; we have a lot to say on your behalf,” he said of Guelph citizens.
So far, they’re just shy of 300 letters sent to the board.
“Public input on this is crucial, especially in a time of climate emergency,” he said.
“Enbridge is saying … this isn’t open for discussion. Our attitude is, well, it needs to be up for discussion, because it’s completely unfair to ratepayers. It’s completely unfair from a climate change perspective. They need to start paying their way instead of being subsidized by all of us.”