We spent a little time skimming the transcript of Tuesday’s MPSC hearing on phase 2. It consists largely of Enbridge attorney Michael Asthon insisting– by way of objections to questions asked to Enbridge employees– that almost nothing whatsoever is relevant to the proceedings; not Marshall, not the NTSB report, not anything pertaining to phase one, and on and on. And when it comes to Marshall and the NTSB report, Administrative Law Judge Teresa Sheets agrees with Ashton:

In addition, I think that anything that did happen with the previous rupture in the Marshall area is not relevant to these proceedings. That is a very specific incident; the correction, corrective action orders addressed what happened, addressed steps that needed to be taken, et cetera, including that which led us to these proceedings, because they I think very clearly directed Enbridge to replace rather than repair, and I’ve said that from the beginning.

Of course, we understand that this is a legal question pertaining to the particular charge of the MPSC and the powers granted to it by the state. Yet this just reveals one of the many problems with the approval process, since in any rational world, the idea that Marshall isn’t relevant to these proceedings is a complete absurdity.

We were also struck by this little exchange between Project Manager Thomas Hodge and intervenors’ attorney Gary Field:

Q: Mr. Hodge, when dealing with landowners from time to time, and to the extent disputes arise, does Enbridge have some type of internal appeal process where the landowners can escalate the dispute to a higher level, or does that not exist?

A: We have various informational packages out there to the landowners that have 800 numbers they can call and leave messages on, you know, we’ve made, we’ve had public meetings where we’ve met with landowners and I’ve handed out my cards, Mark Sitek has handed out his cards at these meetings. As far as a formal appeals, or process for them to escalate a dispute with our field land agents, no, I can’t say that we have a formal process, but we try to get enough information out there to the landowners that they know they have an avenue to escalate the issue if they are not getting satisfaction from the land agent that they are dealing with. I would expect them to, you know, they — these land agents have a supervisor in the field, so I would hope that if there was a dispute that was having, was reaching the point where it was unable to be resolved, it would progress in a logical sequence up the chain until we can get it settled.

Q: But I take it your advice would be to call Mr. Sitek if all else fails?

A: No, that would not be my advice.

We have no idea what these public meeting are; there certainly weren’t any over in our area. And we can tell you first-hand that it is not at all easy to move “up the chain” to discuss one’s individual situation. With the exception of our contact with Mark Sitek– which Tom Hodge here advises against– our attempts to contact anyone “above” our land agent were more or less completely ignored (yes, we’re talking about you, Mike Bradburn and Doug Aller).

And, as we’ve pointed out several times now, we were similarly ignored by Enbridge reps at last week’s PS Trust conference, a fact all the more disturbing in contrast to the way that other companies handled landowner criticisms. In a follow up to the conference we received just yesterday, our new friends and fellow panelists Jon and Bonnie Kruse report that:

. . . we had a serious conversation with a senior TransCanada land agent at the Conference. He came up to us twice. He said he never wanted to sit thru another hour like he experienced during the Landowners presentation. We gave him and Vern Meier specific suggestiions on what they can do to establish positive landowner relations so they would not experience such an hour again. We told them—See the Landowner as your partner, approach the landowner as you would a partner, treat the landowner as your partner, engage the landowner as your partner in the process from siting, thru construction, and reclamantion. Respect the landowner as your partner—-make phone and return phone calls, make appointments, and be consistent.

This is, of course, excellent advice. And it’s not that different from what Enbridge claims to do. But as so many of us can attest, their words are one thing; their actions quite another.