SAINT JOHN, New Brunswick – Canada’s National Energy Board opened a hearing Monday on a proposed natural gas pipeline in New Brunswick amid suspicion from some residents who said the board will not seriously consider their objections.

The energy board is reviewing an application from Brunswick Pipeline, a subsidiary of Nova Scotia-based Emera Inc., to construct a high-speed, high-pressure pipeline to carry natural gas from Saint John, New Brunswick, to the energy-hungry U.S. Northeast.

The company is seeking approval to build the 88-mile pipeline across southwestern New Brunswick and into Maine, traversing the city of Saint John and one of its most cherished public spaces, Rockwood Park. The new line would connect in Maine to the existing Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, which is being expanded and modified to include five additional compressor stations.

Of the 40 people intervening at hearings to oppose the route through Saint John, several made it clear Monday they believe it will be an uphill battle to get serious consideration.

“The only time I can find that the energy board decided to oppose a pipeline was in Abbotsford, British Columbia,” Saint John resident Frances Oliver told the three-member board. “I think our chances here are pretty slim to nil.”

Oliver said she is concerned that the three board members are all new appointees to the job.

“With new panel members, the literature suggests that if you are new there may be some bias,” Oliver told the panel members. “I’m concerned the NEB process was not designed to serve the needs of individual residents. It’s a process that is designed to serve the needs of large corporations.”

The board members did not respond to Oliver’s concerns.

Alan Ruffman, a marine geophysicist from Halifax, Nova, Scotia, said it will be difficult for citizens to penetrate the complex legalistic processes that characterize an energy board hearing.

“The NEB has a long tradition of backing the plans of oil companies,” said Ruffman, who is helping the citizens group Friends of Rockwood Park. “We’re fighting an uphill battle.”

Most of the private citizens intervening at the hearings, which are expected to last two weeks, favor a water route for the pipeline rather than the route through the city and the park. Ruffman said the people opposing the land route are making a sound argument.

“Rather than taking a pipe that has 1,455 pounds of pressure in it through all the little parts of the city, and its subdivisions, a 5-mile underwater pipeline could completely avoid the city and remove all of the safety concerns.”

But Steven Rankin, spokesman for Brunswick Pipeline, said a water route is not on the table.

“It would add about $300 million to the project,” Rankin said. “It’s a $350 million project as filed, so it’s almost a doubling of the cost.”