A consultant who wrote an economic argument for Kinder Morgan’s pipeline expansion project has been appointed to the National Energy Board.
The Conservative government named Steven Kelly to the energy regulator on Friday, trumpeting his “wealth of experience” in a news release.
Kelly, a former consultant with IHS Inc., wrote a 2013 analysis on the proposed expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, arguing that the project would bring in $37 billion in revenue benefits by 2037.
That work came under fire last year from Mark Eliesen, a former CEO of BC Hydro and a vocal critic of the NEB’s Trans Mountain hearings. Eliesen called Kelly’s analysis “fabricated and fictitious” in an interview with the Burnaby Now.
The Trans Mountain expansion is currently under review by the NEB, but Kelly will reportedly not sit on the three-member panel that will consider the proposal. A decision on the plan is expected early next year.
Kelly’s term with the NEB begins on Oct. 13 and will last for seven years.
