British Columbia opposes Kinder Morgan’s $3.81bn Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in Canada

The Government of British Columbia (BC) said it will not support Kinder Morgan’s C$5.4bn ($3.81bn) proposed expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline in Canada, if some conditions raised by it are not met.

In its final written submission to the National Energy Board (NEB) panel, the government said that that Kinder Morgan has not provided adequate information on proposed spill prevention and response for the province.

The government further said it will continue to evaluate the project based on the company’s ability to meet the five requirements established in 2012 to consider the construction and operation of heavy-oil pipelines in the province.

BC has insisted that the requirements must be in place for any new pipeline if it needs to receive provincial support.

As part of the requirements, the company requires to complete the environmental review process and a recommendation needs to be in place by the NEB to go ahead with the expansion project.

The conditions also included marine oil spill response, prevention and recovery systems for BC’s coastline and best practises for land oil spill prevention, response and recovery systems.

Kinder Morgan said in a statement: "The conditions related to world-leading marine oil spill response, recovery and prevention, addressing Aboriginal treaty rights and BC receiving its "fair share" are all conditions that require multiple parties to come to the table and work together.

"If approved by the NEB, Trans Mountain is confident that the construction and long-term operation of the project will be done to the highest standards of environmental performance, support Aboriginal communities and provide lasting benefits for British Columbians, Albertans and Canadians."

The 1,150km Trans Mountain pipeline system has been in operation since 1953 and the expansion would increase the capacity of the pipeline to 890,000 barrels per day.

Trans Mountain has a current capacity of 300,000 barrels per day.

The proposed expansion is set to complete the twinning of the existing pipeline between Strathcona County, Alberta and Burnaby, BC.

---

Image: The BC Government established five requirements in 2012 to consider the construction and operation of heavy-oil pipelines in the province. Photo: courtesy of puttsk/FreeDigitalPhotos.net