UPDATE 2-Canada says pipeline reviews proceed despite change to process

(Adds Greenpeace comment, Trudeau quote from August)
By Randall Palmer
OTTAWA, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Canada's environmental review of
existing applications for crude oil pipeline projects is
continuing despite the new Liberal government's plans to make
the assessment process more robust, Natural Resources Minister
Jim Carr said on Wednesday.
"They have not stopped. The process continues," he told
reporters on a conference call.
"There will be a transition as we amend the ways in which
the National Energy Board goes about the process of evaluating
these projects, and we will announce those changes as soon as we
can, but the process continues."
The Liberal government's pledge to toughen up the
environmental review process for oil pipelines had raised the
question of whether existing applications would require
resubmission.
Key projects are TransCanada Corp's TRP.TO application for
the Energy East pipeline to take oil from Alberta and
Saskatchewan to the East Coast, and the expansion of Kinder
Morgan Inc's KMI.N Trans Mountain Pipeline to the Pacific.
Specifically addressing the Kinder Morgan (N:KMI) application, Carr
said the review was going ahead.
He appeared less clear when asked about Energy East: "I
understand that any changes that we make to the process will
have an effect on projects. I know that it's important, and we
will be reviewing the situation and we will give you the results
as soon as we can."
The minister said the government was committed to a process
that has the confidence of Canadians.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, while campaigning in October
for election, had said it was up to communities to decide
whether to support Energy East.
"It is not up to government to support one project or
another, it is up for a government to set the framework within
which communities can choose, or not, to support a project," he
said at the time. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N12F10U
Nonetheless, Carr reiterated on Wednesday the government's
opposition to Enbridge Inc's ENB.TO Northern Gateway pipeline.
Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner Keith Stewart,
referring to Trans Mountain, said he did not see "how the
Trudeau government can continue with the review of a pipeline
under rules that Trudeau has denounced for ignoring climate
impacts, failing to respect indigenous rights, and lacking a
grounding in sound science."
He pointed to video footage (https://goo.gl/eVBmxS) of
Trudeau saying in August that the new environmental process
would apply to the Kinder Morgan line. Trudeau said it would not
be approved in January because there would be a new Liberal
government "and that process needs to be redone."