The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board canceled a public hearing to address an aboriginal group's concerns about Pieridae Energy Ltd.'s Goldboro LNG export project after the group formally withdrew its objections to the proposed C$10 billion export terminal.

"Sipekne'katik is satisfied that any aboriginal and treaty rights of Sipekne'katik will not be diminished nor impinged," Michael Sack, chief of the Sipekne'katik First Nation, said in a letter to the board.

After the group decided to not participate in the Oct. 15 hearing, the board, which is tasked to review a permit application to build the export terminal, decided to cancel the hearing. "No other First Nation or body in Nova Scotia has raised any concern," the board said in a cancellation notice. "The board will now proceed with the merits of the permit to construct application."

The board late in September called for the public hearing to consider whether the government properly consulted the Sipekne'katik First Nation about Pieridae's application after the group claimed it had not been involved in the review of the project as Canadian federal law requires.

Pieridae previously said it expects to reach a final investment decision on the export project in late fall. In the Pieridae plan, the export venture would be capable of producing about 10 million tonnes of LNG per year and would deliver gas supplies to European customers.