The Supreme Court of British Columbia granted TC Energy Corp.'s Coastal GasLink pipeline an interlocutory injunction against a First Nations group and other opponents of the natural-gas conduit, The Canadian Press reported.

Justice Marguerite Church ruled Dec. 31, 2019, that the project has all the necessary authorizations to proceed and meets the requirements for an interlocutory injunction, The Canadian Press reported. Coastal GasLink was granted a temporary injunction in December 2018 after protesters restricted access to a construction site near the town of Houston in northern British Columbia. Church said there is evidence to indicate that the protesters have engaged in "deliberate and unlawful conduct for the purpose of causing harm to the plaintiff" and preventing TC Energy from building the line, the news agency said.

Coastal GasLink would span 670 kilometers of northern British Columbia and connect shale gas fields in the province's northeast with the Royal Dutch Shell PLC-backed LNG Canada Development Inc. project on the Pacific coast. While TC Energy has reached agreements with elected leaders of First Nations along the way, Hereditary Chiefs of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation have objected to the pipeline, leading to a blockade of a logging road near Houston in 2018. The interlocutory injunction lasts until the issue is resolved by the courts and replaces the interim injunction.

Calgary, Alberta-based TC Energy agreed in late December 2019 to sell a majority stake in Coastal Gaslink Pipeline Ltd. to investment firms KKR & Co. Inc. and Alberta Investment Management Corp.