An independent body mandated by the Minister of the Environment and the National Energy Board will hold three public meetings to discuss the proposed Enbridge Gateway pipeline. The meetings are in Whitecourt on August 10th, Kitimat on August 31st and Prince George on September 8th, three towns along the pipeline's route.

The Joint Review Panel "has a broad mandate to assess the potential environmental effects of the project and to determine if it is in the public interest," according to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency website.

The panel will host presentations over several days by members of the public who sign up in advance or on a first-come-first-serve basis the day of the consultation, including morning, afternoon and evening sessions.

The presentations should address three main categories outlined in The Procedural Direction, which also contains forms for written comment.

The three discussion categories are:

1. A draft List of Issues (included in the Procedural Direction).
2. Additional information which Northern Gateway should be required to file.
3. Location(s) for the oral hearing.

Written concerns and requests are being compiled in an online public registry.

Enbridge has been in the news recently with a series of mishaps in B.C. and elsewhere, including a 3-million-litre oil spill near Lake Michigan.