VICTORIA – The B.C. government has formally applied for intervener status in a court case involving Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline.

Attorney General David Eby said government lawyers on Tuesday filed the required paperwork with the Federal Court of Appeal to seek intervener status in upcoming court proceedings that seek to overturn the project’s environmental approval.

“The court has to grant us permission and this filing today is the first step in that process,” Eby said in an interview. “It’s not our substantive legal argument, that we will make in front of the court. It’s simply a request in front of the court to be able to make that argument.”