Enough debate — start Trans Mountain project, says Kinder Morgan boss
The president of a company planning a controversial pipeline expansion in Western Canada says the debate about Trans Mountain is over and it’s time to get on with construction.
Ian Anderson, head of Kinder Morgan Canada, said Thursday the $7.4-billion project has undergone the most rigorous environmental review process in Canada’s history.
“The time for seeking more opinions on whether we should build this project has passed,” Anderson told a gathering of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade during its annual energy forum. “Now is the time to show Canadians and the world that we have had the healthy debate, that we have had a rigorous review, and we will get on to build the project.”
The proposal involves doubling of a pre-existing pipeline, which would triple its carrying capacity and result in an estimated sevenfold increase in tanker traffic through the Lower Mainland’s Burrard Inlet. It has prompted fierce opposition from environmentalists, First Nations and the B.C. New Democrat government, all of whom are fighting the project in federal court.
Anderson said the City of Burnaby, where the pipeline terminus is located, was taking months to issue permits, dragging its feet in a process that should only last weeks.
“We will meet all of the local permitting requirements, all of the local interests. We will do all of that,” Anderson said about Burnaby’s opposition to Trans Mountain. “But at the end of the day, they can’t prevent us from doing our work.”
The city did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More than 100 protesters gathered in the rain outside the Fairmont Waterfront in downtown Vancouver to protest the Trans Mountain proposal.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, head of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said First Nations are planning costly delays that will force the expansion to be cancelled.