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More buffeting of pipeline plans Kinder Morgan keeps running afoul of opposition to expansion; Enbridge faces Canadian appeal court challenge from First Nations Gary Park For Petroleum News
Another week, another round of tussling in British Columbia between crude pipeline proponents and their opponents.
Kinder Morgan, which is locked in a battle with the Metro Vancouver City of Burnaby over plans to triple capacity on the Trans Mountain system to 890,000 barrels per day, has taken its argument to the streets in an effort to win over residents.
The company distributed a letter in the neighborhood around its Westridge marine terminal accusing the city of refusing to give serious consideration to its alternative route option.
Kinder Morgan said approval of its preferred plan to tunnel through Burnaby Mountain would “avoid several private homeowners and minimize community disruptions.”
But if it is unable to complete survey work soon “we may have to pursue our alternate route through city streets,” the company said.
Although the City of Burnaby has the support of several municipalities in Metro Vancouver, notably the City of Vancouver, it narrowly failed on Sept. 23 to gain the backing of delegates to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities annual meeting.
A motion to oppose the Trans Mountain expansion was defeated by 50.7 percent to 49.3 percent, but the municipal leaders did endorse a Burnaby resolution to seek changes to the National Energy Board public hearing process.
Under new rules, the federal regulator has denied hearing interveners the right to directly question applicants. All comment must now be submitted in writing.
However, the City of Burnaby did notch one victory Sept. 25 when the NEB dismissed a Kinder Morgan request for the agency to bar Burnaby from blocking the survey work on the mountain.
The NEB said Kinder Morgan was essentially asking it to override city bylaws, which “raises a constitutional question.”
Worse problems for Enbridge Whatever problems confront Kinder Morgan they seem to pale alongside rival Enbridge’s Northern Gateway project, which now faces a federal court challenge from 18 First Nations in northern British Columbia, along with a refusal by Mayor Jack Mussallem and the port authority at Prince Rupert to move the tanker terminal from Kitimat to their community.
The Federal Court of Appeal granted leave Sept. 26 to the Gitxaala Nation to apply for a judicial review of the federal cabinet’s approval of Northern Gateway.
Rosanne Kyle, a lawyer representing the Gitxaala, said that given the 17 other lawsuits filed by First Nations and the number of parties involved, it is unlikely the court will be in a position to hear submissions for several months, adding it is possible the court will hear all of the cases together.
Whatever date is set, the process is another delay for Northern Gateway, which is years behind its original schedule, raising questions about the staying power of shippers who are contracted to export 525,000 barrels per day of oil sands crude to Asia.
Gitxaala acting Chief Clarence Innis said in a statement that the Canadian government failed to provide reasonable accommodation and consultation regarding the First Nation’s aboriginal rights and title.
“We played by Canada’s rules, but all of our concerns were ignored,” he said.
The First Nation said the federal government relied on “an unlawful and unreasonable Joint Review Panel report” when it approved Northern Gateway, while attaching 209 conditions.
Kyle also said Northern Gateway would interfere with the Gitxaala’s economic, cultural and spiritual way of life.
If the project were to proceed “huge tankers would travel through traditional Gitxaala harvesting territory which provides 80 percent of their food,” she said.
Prentice urges rerouting Meanwhile, newly elected Alberta Premier Jim Prentice urged Enbridge to reroute the pipeline to Prince Rupert, but Mussallem said his resource-dependent community will not play a role in shipping Alberta crude to Asia because of the risks posed to the local fishing community which employs hundreds of people.
“Overwhelmingly people in my community are much more comfortable with liquefied natural gas, with wood pellets and with coal than any oil product,” he said.
Aside from that, a spokesman for the Prince Rupert Port Authority said there is no room for Enbridge to build a terminal at the port even if it wanted to, adding that the only two large vacant lots are earmarked for LNG projects.
However, Enbridge does have an alternative, having purchased a C$20 million land parcel near Prince Rupert in 2013, although the company said it had only earmarked the property for “future business opportunities.”
Prentice, who was seeking agreement with First Nations before he re-entered politics, told the Globe and Mail that the Haisla First Nations opposition to a Kitimat terminal made it “pretty tough” for the project to go ahead.
An Enbridge spokesman said the company has no current plans to change the Northern Gateway route, noting that would require a new application to the National Energy Board.
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