The British Columbia government is looking to introduce new regulations governing companies that bring heavy oil into the province as the government continues its battle with its provincial neighbour over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
In a reference case filed on Thursday, B.C. Premier John Horgan asked the province's highest court to verify if the government has the right to control heavy oils.
"We have a responsibility, in my opinion, to do our best efforts to protect this place that is so important to all of us," said Horgan. "To protect the environment that means so much to our economy."
British Columbia wants to force companies that plan to bring diluted bitumen into the province to apply for a provincial permit and outline their spill-response measures. The permit application process would allow B.C. to deny pipelines at an administrative level.
Premier Notley says the court challenge will likely fail and her government is committed to the fight to have the pipeline built.
"I think it's unlikely that they will get permission to get that permitting process but either way, even if that's going on, there is other work going on between our government, the proponent, and the federal government to use other tools to de-risk this project."
"I'm, at this point, quite confident that we'll be putting them in place."
A scheduled date for the hearing of the reference case has not been released.
Kinder Morgan has announced its plans to abandon the entire project if the federal and provincial governments don't reach an agreement by May 31, 2018.
With files from CTV's Kevin Green
