Kinder Morgan forges ahead with pipeline expansion plan

Trans Mountain Pipeline, the entity that would build the pipeline, submitted a project description yesterday to the National Energy Board (NEB), Canada’s independent industry regulator. The document outlines how the pipeline would be operated, consultation programs and the environmental and social impact. The project description does not include the route that the pipeline would take.

Trans Mountain is proposing to:

• install about 981 kilometres of new buried pipeline (to be located adjacent to the existing pipeline within the existing right-of-way, where practical);
• reactivate existing maintained and deactivated pipeline segments;
• install 11 new pump stations, 21 storage tanks and associated facilities; and
• expand the existing Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby.

On May 17, the fees that Kinder Morgan plans to charge for transporting oil through the proposed expanded pipeline were approved by the NEB.

The expansion has been opposed by First Nations, environmental groups and the opposition BC NDP, who fear the project will significantly increase oil tanker traffic in Burrard Inlet and the risk of an oil spill.

By Jen St. Denis