Supreme Court Hands Legal Victory to 559-Mile B.C. Gas Pipeline Project
The B.C. Supreme Court has dismissed a legal challenge to the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline, ruling Skeena and Kispiox groups lacked standing to contest permits for a section built entirely on Nisga’a lands.
By Mary Holcomb, Digital Editor
(P&GJ) — The Supreme Court of British Columbia has dismissed a legal challenge seeking to halt construction on a section of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) project, ruling the petitioners lacked standing to bring the case.
The Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, the Kispiox Valley Community Centre Association and the Kispiox Band argued that the B.C. Energy Regulator (BCER) unlawfully allowed work to proceed on Section 5B of the 900-kilometer (559-mile) pipeline without requiring a new cumulative effects assessment.
Justice Tammen rejected the claim, finding that Section 5B lies entirely on Nisga’a Nation lands and does not cross the Skeena or Kispiox valleys. The Nisga’a Nation, which jointly owns the project proponent PRGT Ltd. with Western LNG, supported the regulator’s decision.
“The petitioners do not have standing to bring this petition, and it must be dismissed on that basis,” Tammen wrote in the Aug. 20 judgment (2025 BCSC 1607).
The petitioners had sought to quash the BCER’s decision under the Judicial Review Procedure Act, arguing that permit conditions requiring a cumulative effects review were not met. But the court found the dispute centered on “a micro-decision” tied only to Nisga’a lands and not a matter of broad public importance.
The judge noted that petitioners may have an opportunity to raise their concerns later when BCER considers permits for Section 5A of the pipeline, which runs through the Kispiox Valley.
In addition to dismissing the petition, the court awarded costs against the petitioners in favor of PRGT Ltd. and the Nisga’a Lisims Government.
The PRGT pipeline is designed to carry natural gas from Hudson’s Hope in northeastern B.C. to the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG facility on Nisga’a territory near Prince Rupert.
In June 2025, British Columbia's Environmental Assessment Office has determined that work on the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission natural gas pipeline project has been substantially started, the provincial government said on June 5.
The decision means a 2014 environmental assessment certificate for the project will remain in effect indefinitely, unless suspended or cancelled under the Environmental Assessment Act, the B.C. government said in a press release.
It was acquired from TC Energy by the Nisga'a First Nation and the Western LNG in March 2024 to supply natural gas to the proposed 12 million tonnes per annum Ksi Lisims liquefied natural facility.
In June 2025, British Columbia’s Environmental Assessment Office ruled that work on the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline had been “substantially started.” The decision allowed the project’s 2014 environmental assessment certificate to remain valid indefinitely, unless later suspended or cancelled under the Environmental Assessment Act.
The pipeline was acquired from TC Energy in March 2024 by the Nisga’a Nation and Western LNG, and is intended to supply natural gas to the proposed 12-million-tonnes-per-year Ksi Lisims LNG facility.