Trans Mountain plan under fire in B.C.
Environmentalists, First Nations groups put Trudeau on hot seat
VANCOUVER— The potential for a major fire at the end point of the Trans Mountain pipeline could put thousands of area residents in imminent danger and blanket the Metro Vancouver area with toxic smoke, according to an environmental group.
This is just one of the worstcase scenario threats to communities and ecosystems listed in a new report by the environmental organization Stand. earth on the risks of the pipeline expansion project. It was released just hours before Justin Trudeau was set to appear at a Liberal campaign event in Vancouver Wednesday evening.
Trudeau, who calls British Columbia his “second home,” has faced considerable criticism on the coast from environmentalists and some First Nations for his government’s decision to approve, and then reapprove, the controversial pipeline.
“The decision (to approve the pipeline) had a lot more to do with politics than it did with the safety of communities or public good,” said Tzeporah Berman, Stand. earth’s international program director.
The organization detailed impacts the pipeline could have in seven of the “most troubling hot spots for construction.”
In Burnaby — the pipeline’s western terminus — there’s risk of a major oil spill in Burrard Inlet that has the potential to devastate local bird populations and “contaminate places of cultural significance to the TsleilWaututh (Nation),” the report notes.
Just a few kilometres away, the Burnaby Terminal is set to double the number of on site tanks storing crude oil and refined petroleum products from 13 to 26.
The report notes a major fire at the terminal could result in thousands of students, faculty and staff becoming trapped at Simon Fraser University. As well, it said residential neighbourhoods downhill of the storage facility could be put in imminent danger, and toxic smoke could blanket Metro Vancouver. In June, Burnaby’s mayor met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss his concerns about the risk of a fire at the tank farm.
In Abbotsford, 70 kilometres southeast of Vancouver, there are concerns about the risks of exposure to toxic fumes from the Sumas Terminal, where storage capacity is also set to increase. The storage facility has seen spills in 1994, 1997, 2002, 2005, and 2012, according to Stand.earth’s report.
In response to the concerns raised in Stand.earth’s report a spokesperson for Trans Mountain said, “After seven years of consultation, design, studies and planning, we are confident we have considered, addressed and effectively mitigated the concerns and risks raised in this report. The re-start of construction on the Expansion Project demonstrates that Canada can have a healthy, rigorous discussion about issues and also ensure a project that has followed every process and obtained the necessary approvals gets built,” the statement said.
“We’re confident that we will build and operate the expansion safely, responsibly and in respect of communities, Indigenous groups and the environment,” it continued.
But according to Tim Takaro, a physician and the associate dean of research of health sciences at Simon Fraser University, the “pipeline expansion represents a significant threat to public health.”
The Trans Mountain expansion involves the construction of a second, 1,000-kilometre pipeline to carry diluted bitumen and other petroleum products from outside Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C.
“This material, diluted bitumen, which is carcinogenic and highly flammable and can destroy ecological systems — it makes no sense to bring it into one of the most populous zones of the country,” Takaro said.
Trudeau has argued that the pipeline will accelerate Canada’s transition to a clean economy.
Berman takes issue with that line of thinking. “When your house is on fire you don’t add more fuel,” she said. “We know that the impacts of climate change are far worse across our country than anyone ever thought.”
At issue now, he said, is how the federal candidates plan to address the climate emergency.