B.C. can’t support oil pipeline: minister

Essentially the planned expansion would see Kinder Morgan twinning its pipelines between the Alberta oil sands and the terminal at Burnaby, near Vancouver, in BC. “We’ve done a lot of work to satisfy the conditions up until now”.

Kinder Morgan filed a final written argument for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project with Canadian regulators in December.

Environment Minister Mary Polak has told the newspaper it is doing so in a submission to the National Energy Board today, because it believes the company has failed to provide an adequate plan to prevent or respond to an oil spill.

“It does not close the door on them meeting that test in the future”, Polak said. It would almost triple capacity to 890,000 barrels a day.

But, he added, “I still think it’s good of the province at this very crucial time to say ‘before making a decision please hear us and we are opposed to it'”.

“They know what conditions they have to meet”.

Thomson Nicola Regional District Chair John Ranta expressed disappointment the government is “turning its back” on the project which he says would benefit communities along the pipeline route. If the project goes ahead, the number of oil tankers loading in Burrard Inlet would increase to 34 a month, up from five now.

Kinder Morgan still has an opportunity to meet those five requirements.

The BC government will give the submission to the National Energy Board but the final decision with the Trans Mountain expansion lies with the federal government.

During the course of the NEB review of the expansion however, the province determined that the Texas-based Kinder Morgan had not provided sufficient information to determine it would meet those oil spill safety standards.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said in a statement the announcement “reflects the strong opposition to this project throughout Metro Vancouver and British Columbia”. The B.C. government plans to table legislation this spring on a land-based emergency response system, and is working with the federal government on the marine side, Polak added, but said companies also have to do their part.

It said Monday it is confident that it will satisfy B.C.’s conditions by the time the regulatory process is complete, but it noted there are several requirements that it alone can not satisfy.

“If the vision they prefer is with the project, rather than without, then they address their mind to the specifics of how do we make this pipeline safe”, he said. “Without public support or the support of the B.C. government, the federal government has no choice but to reject this project”.

While Kinder Morgan has yet to issue a statement on province’s position, environmental organizations have already met the news of its rejection in B.C. warmly.

“It’s not going to overcome the opposition of First Nations and it’s not going to overcome the opposition of the thousands of citizens who fought Kinder Morgan on Burnaby Mountain”, said ForestEthics advocacy campaign organizer Sven Biggs.