The federal government has rejected calls for a more comprehensive review of Irving Oil's proposed second refinery in New Brunswick.
The Conservation Council of New Brunswick and other groups had asked the federal government to go beyond its planned environmental impact assessment and thoroughly examine the possible effects of the proposed refinery, which would be built in Saint John.
The Irving Oil refinery in Saint John is the largest in Canada. The company hopes to build a second refinery in the city.
The council has argued the refinery could also affect Nova Scotia and Maine, and therefore any review should involve the federal government as well as the province.
Environment Minister John Baird said the federal government will not form a joint review panel to look at the issue.
The federal environmental impact assessment will focus only on how the project infrastructure will affect the coastline, he said. The rest is up to the province.
Irving Oil is committed to a thorough environmental impact assessment, said Jennifer Parker, a company spokeswoman.
A final decision on whether Irving Oil will proceed with the second refinery won't likely be made until 2009.
Irving Oil already operates Canada's largest oil refinery in the east end of Saint John. That refinery processes 300,000 barrels of oil per day.
The second refinery is expected to be the same size and would create about 1,000 jobs in the city.
With files from the Canadian PressRelated
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