the goodman group, ltd.

Projects >> Complete

Co-created a tool for the Canadian federal government to evaluate the credibility of economic development claims (employment, government revenues and GDP) associated with Designated Projects under the Impact Assessment Act.
In June 2020, Kinder Morgan announced its plan to for the East 300 Upgrade Project, a $246 million expansion of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) system. The Project, which involves the construction of a compressor station in New Jersey, as well as upgrades to two existing compressor stations (in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, respectively). This expansion would increase the TGP system firm capacity by 115,000 dekatherms per day to meet the demands of Consolidated Edison (serving New York City and suburbs).
Appointed by NunatuKavut Community Council (NCC), an Inuit community in Labrador, as external advisor for the Independent Expert Advisory Committee (IEAC) on Muskrat Falls. This large and highly controversial hydroelectric project has been widely opposed by many affected Indigenous residents. The mission of the IEAC was to use science and Indigenous Knowledge to recommend measures to protect the health of the Indigenous and local population from the effects of methylmercury related to Muskrat Falls.
TGG provided expert testimony on behalf of the Standing Rock Sioux and the Cheyenne River Sioux in the legal proceedings related to the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Represented by Earthjustice, the Tribes have waged a long-term legal battle to stop the pipeline, in parallel with the historic protests of the pipeline in North Dakota. Since 2016, the Tribes have argued that the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) should deny DAPL permits to cross the Missouri River and undertake a full environmental review. In late 2016, the Obama administration supported the Tribes’ position, and USACE committed to a full environmental review. Days after his inauguration in January 2017, US President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum to grant the final permits and expedite the construction process.
In Autumn 2014, TGG released a highly publicized expert report, Economic Costs and Benefits of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX) for BC and Metro Vancouver, in collaboration with Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Public Policy Research. The report, published in November 2014 and re-released in February 2015, refuted Kinder Morgan’s claims regarding positive economic development benefits of its controversial pipeline project (TMX). Goodman and Rowan of TGG estimated the economic benefits of TMX for BC and Metro Vancouver and compared these benefits to a range of potential costs of bad to worst-case scenarios. TGG demonstrated that the economic benefits of the pipeline were very small and had been significantly overstated by Kinder Morgan, whereas the worst-case costs of a catastrophic spill were very large and had been vastly understated.
In 2013, TGG was retained by a coalition of Quebec- and Ontario-based environmental groups (the Équiterre Coalition) to provide expert testimony related to a controversial crude oil pipeline: Enbridge’s Line 9B Reversal and Line 9 Capacity Expansion (300,000 barrels per day at full capacity). The project would transport a mix of tar sands dilbit and synthetic crude oil (SCO), Bakken, and conventional Western Canadian crudes through Ontario and Quebec, crossing major waterways and Canada’s most populous urban areas (including Toronto and Montreal). TGG filed written expert testimony entitled, The Relative Economic Costs and Benefits of Enbridge’s Line 9B Reversal and Line 9 Capacity Expansion Project in August 2013 at Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) on behalf of the Équiterre Coalition.