Saint John Mayor Don Darling is anxious for the hearings into the proposed Energy East pipeline to resume.
The $15.7-billion Energy East pipeline would carry 1.1 million barrels of diluted oilsands bitumen daily from Alberta to New Brunswick and would be refined in Saint John.
"It's a very, very important project for the city. It's a top priority for us to work through," said Darling.
"The NEB process is very important for us to have it move forward as quickly as possible, so we're interested in that ... We'd certainly be anxious to have the hearings back up and running right away."

Welcome news for some 

The marine program co-ordinator with the Conservation Council of New Brunswick was pleased the panel members stepped down. 
"We knew something had to happen. There have been severe issues with the National Energy Board that have been noted by many for a long time," said Matthew Abbott.
hi-matthew-abbott
The Conservation Council of New Brunswick's Matthew Abbott was pleased to find out the National Energy Board panel members stepped down. (CBC)
"Of course, it came to a head with these issues over bias or perceived bias and the impact that would have on the process, so we thought the NEB had to take some pretty serious action to address these issues."
The council requested that members of the panel step down.
"I was pleased to hear that they had taken those concerns seriously," said Abbott.
Pipeline
The NEB hearings on the proposed Energy East pipeline are on hold until new members are appointed to the panel. (CBC)

Next step

NEB is working on finding three new panel members. Once those people have been appointed, the hearings will continue.
Abbott doesn't think that's enough.
"It's going to take much more than a Band-Aid solution and certainly the time is right to do more than try and patch up a broken process," said Abbott


@chayil$