Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline
[ http://canadians.org/kinder-morgan ]
Pipeline basics:
Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline currently carries 300,000 barrels of oil a day. Over the last ten years, Kinder Morgan has submitted a series of applications to the NEB to increase the capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline and its Westridge operations. These plans, which have received firm support from Big Oil corporations, stand to increase the pipeline's capacity to 700,000 barrels a day.
Pipeline route:
The pipeline presently spans 1,150 kms from Edmonton, Alberta to Burnaby, B.C., including through Jasper National Park. The pipeline is multi-use, it has transported natural gas, jet fuel and oil, however, since 2005 it is increasingly being used to transport tar sands crude to both Greater Vancouver and the Puget Sound area in Washington State, feeding Chevron, BP, Shell and Conoco Phillips refineries as well as export terminals.
Opposition:
Opposition to the project grew in 2007 after a major rupture in the line dumped 200,000 litres of crude oil – enough to cover an entire neighbourhood – in North Burnaby. There was a major leak at the Burnaby Mountain tank farm in 2009, and a spill in 2012 at the Sumas pumping station near Abbotsford. These spills have led many people to question the health and safety risks of the project. The transport of tar sands crude – bitumen – poses heightened spill risks. Bitumen is more viscous and corrosive then conventional crude oil and needs to be mixed with diluents (solvents such as naphtha and natural gas condensate) and transported at higher pressures and temperature.
In 2011 the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation announced their opposition to any expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline, highlighting the risks to the community, the people and the environment. The Fraser Declaration, supported by more than 130 Indigenous communities and First Nations has been expanded to include opposition to the Kinder Morgan expansion plans.
A recent poll indicated that 72 per cent of Burnaby, B.C. residents are opposed to the Kinder Morgan expansion.
This past summer, in solidarity with rallies against the Keystone Pipeline in Washington, DC, the Council of Canadians helped mobilize hundreds of people in a march to Kinder Morgan's Westridge Terminal to protest the proposed pipeline plans.
Where does government stand? Over the last ten years, Kinder Morgan has submitted a series of applications to the NEB to increase the capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline and its Westridge operations.
Kinder Morgan indicated in February 2012 that it will go ahead with planning a $3.8-billion proposed twinning of its Trans Mountain oil pipeline, which will require a formal application to the National Energy Board
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Kinder Morgan loses bid to extend injunction
[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.2852222 ]
Judge throws out civil contempt charges against those arrested for breaking the injunction
CBC News Posted: Nov 27, 2014 8:21 AM PT Last Updated: Nov 27, 2014 2:26 PM PT
An application by Kinder Morgan to extend an injunction keeping protesters away from two drilling sites on Burnaby Mountain was rejected by the B.C. Supreme Court Thursday, meaning the site must be cleared of excavation work by Dec. 1.
In denying the company's request to extend the injunction to Dec. 12, the judge also ruled that all civil contempt charges against those arrested so far have been thrown out due to errors in the injunction.
Earlier, anti-pipeline protesters had locked themselves to the front doors of the court in an attempt to block Kinder Morgan's access.
Sheriffs quickly redirected members of the public, including lawyers representing Kinder Morgan, to other entrances, leaving the protesters locked to the doors.
Lawyers told the court the cost of policing the Kinder Morgan work sites on Burnaby Mountain and arresting more than 100 anti-pipeline protesters over the past week is running at about $100,000 a day for the RCMP, but that figure was not confirmed by the RCMP.
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Also Thursday, Kinder Morgan confirmed that it has completed work at one of the two drilling sites on the mountain. Yesterday, the company confirmed that initial test results indicate the mountain is stable enough for them to proceed with a tunnel, if its plans to reroute the pipeline are approved by the National Energy Board. [ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.2851321 ]
MORE:
[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.2852222 ]
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Chief Stewart Phillip arrested at Kinder Morgan protest
[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... 52468?cid= ]
First Nations leader joins more 100 protesters arrested so far at pipeline test drilling site
CBC News Posted: Nov 27, 2014 11:03 AM PT Last Updated: Nov 27, 2014 1:07 PM PT
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has been arrested at the ongoing Kinder Morgan protest on Burnaby Mountain. [ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... r%20Morgan ]
Before his arrest, Phillip addressed a group of protesters before they marched together towards a borehole site, where he crossed a police line and was taken away by police.
"We are making a very clear public statement that we do not support the Harper and Clark governments when it comes to resources," he said before his arrest.
Phillip said he supported Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan in his stand against the company's exploration on the mountain, adding that this would be the first time in Canadian history a local government bylaw would have been overruled on a land use issue.
MORE:
[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... 52468?cid= ]
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Some background . . . .
[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... r%20Morgan ]
