Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline said it’s confident aresolution to a dispute with the Mi’kmaq Indians in Nova Scotia canbe reached in time to avoid a delay in initial service past Dec. 1.

“It is anticipated that a resolution will be reached on theissue of startup shortly after Nov. 19, the deadline for theNational Energy Board’s (NEB) procedure dealing with startup,” saidMaritimes spokeswoman Krista Jenkins.

Last week a Federal Court of Appeal rejected the NEB’s findingthat Maritimes had satisfied a condition of its certificate thatrequires the pipeline to provide a signed agreement with theIndians covering their role in the project. The NEB now will holdtwo written proceedings. The first is to establish a procedure toimplement the directions of the Federal Court, and the second willconsider the effect of the court’s decision on the start up andoperation of the mainline.

Negotiations with the Indians failed last year but the projectstill received final approval from the National Energy Board (NEB).The Indians may be demanding up to C$150 million from the pipelinefor crossing native lands in Nova Scotia, according to the ReutersNews Service. That figure could not be confirmed by presstime.

Meanwhile, over the weekend Maritimes completed work related tothe commissioning of the pipeline project. The system in Canada isnow filled with gas and is ready for operations. “We will now workto ensure the NEB has all necessary information to make its finaldecision with respect to start-up,” said Jenkins.

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