CBC reports, “Kinder Morgan has officially filed an application to expand its Trans Mountain Pipeline, which would triple its capacity to ship crude oil between Strathcona County, near Edmonton, and Burnaby, B.C. The company released a statement on Monday morning saying it had filed its application with the National Energy Board.”
The Vancouver Sun further explains, “The project would nearly triple oil capacity to 890,000 barrels annually and bring about 400 more tankers a year into Burrard Inlet (up from about 80 now)… The 1,150-kilometre pipeline would carry diluted bitumen from the Alberta oilsands, starting in Edmonton, through Jasper and across B.C. to the company’s Westbridge Terminal in Burnaby.”
Next steps
“The company said the next step will be for the NEB to establish a hearing schedule that corresponds to the federal government’s legislated 15-month period for review and decision. …Once the NEB delivers its final report, the federal government will have 90 days to review the recommendations and make a final decision on the expansion. If approved, work on the $5.4 billion project to revamp the 1,150-kilometre, 60-year-old pipeline (would begin in 2015 and) could be complete by late 2017, said the company.”
Opposition
The Canadian Press notes, “Several Metro Vancouver councils have passed motions opposing the pipeline, including Vancouver, and the Union of B.C. Municipalities voted very narrowly to oppose growth in tanker traffic on the B.C. coast.”
The Council of Canadians has opposed the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion since 2011. In August of that year, we joined with Streams of Justice, Stop the Pave, Tanker Free BC and the Wilderness Committee to host a rally opposing the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, the presence of oil tankers in Burrard Inlet, and more broadly the social and ecological impacts of the tar sands.
In our media release on the rally, Pacific regional organizer Harjap Grewal stated, “Many people have been organizing around the province against the construction of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline that would carry tar sands to a port in Kitimat, but fewer people are aware of Kinder Morgan’s planned expansion of their Trans Mountain pipeline. The expansion alone would deliver more barrels per day than the total capacity of the Enbridge’s pipeline. If we want to stop the destruction of the tar sands we need to stop Northern Gateway, Keystone XL and the Trans Mountain pipelines.”
Further reading
Council opposes Trans Mountain pipeline
Council launches ‘No Pipelines! No Tankers!’ tour and report
Mid Island chapter at open-house protest against Trans Mountain pipeline
Trans Mountain pipeline poses risk to Vedder Fan Aquifer area
Tsleil Waututh and Squamish First Nations oppose Kinder Morgan with canoe protest
Delta requests public hearing on the Trans Mountain Pipeline
Blue Community mayor seeks consultation on Trans Mountain pipeline expansion
BC mayors may form united front against Kinder Morgan tar sands pipeline
Mel Hurtig comes out against the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline
