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Broad Opposition to
Kinder-Morgan Pipeline Proposal
People Have the Right to Decide
Those Issues that Affect
Their Lives!
Rally on Burnaby
Mountain, September 13, 2014.
Broad Opposition
to Kinder-Morgan
Pipeline
Proposal
• People Have the Right to Decide Those Issues
that Affect Their Lives!
• Legal Challenges
• Burnaby Rally
• National Energy Board Ruling Halts Surveying
on Burnaby Mountain
• BC Mayors and City Councillors Demand a Say
in Resource Development and Transportation of Dangerous
Goods in Their Communities
Broad Opposition to Kinder-Morgan
Pipeline Proposal
People Have the Right to Decide Those Issues
that Affect Their Lives!
Opposition to the proposal of U.S. pipeline monopoly
Kinder-Morgan to increase bitumen shipped from Alberta to its terminal
in Burnaby is steadily
increasing and broadening. The current pipeline, originally called the
Trans-Mountain Pipeline, is the only existing pipeline transporting oil
from Alberta
to various points in British Columbia and Washington State. The
Vancouver bound bitumen is loaded onto tankers at the Westridge
Terminal situated near
the Chevron refinery on Burrard Inlet. The tankers ship the oil through
Vancouver's harbour to the Salish Sea and Juan de Fuca Strait destined
for Asian
and U.S. markets.
According to the company's website, "Trans Mountain is
proposing an expansion of its current 1,150-kilometre pipeline between
Strathcona County (near
Edmonton), Alberta and Burnaby, BC. The proposed expansion, if
approved, would create a twinned pipeline that would increase the
nominal capacity of
the system from 300,000 barrels per day, to 890,000 barrels per day."
The pipeline began operations in 1953. The Houston,
Texas based
Kinder-Morgan has owned the pipeline since 2005. The company is seeking
approval
from the National Energy Board for the proposed expansion in capacity.
The number of tankers leaving the terminal would increase to around ten
per week,
up from the current one to two per week. In addition, Kinder-Morgan is
proposing to dredge the Second Narrows portion of the Burrard Inlet to
allow larger
Suezmax tankers access to its Westridge Terminal.
Although Kinder-Morgan calls its proposal a "twinning,"
its own maps indicate that the proposed route entails a considerable
stretch of new pipeline,
including through Burnaby, a densely populated city in Metro Vancouver.
The existing pipeline in Burnaby ruptured in 2007, spilling 234,000
liters into
a residential area.
The City of Burnaby, Vancouver City Council and other
councils have joined the opposition to the project first launched by
local Salish First Nations,
The Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh. They are on record as
opposing the Kinder-Morgan proposal due to the increased risk to the
urban and marine
environment from expanded pipeline capacity and escalation of tanker
traffic in Burrard Inlet. Concern is mounting that the oil monopolies,
pipeline owners
and shippers all have their own private interests in mind, not the
public interests of the people and environment.
Kinder-Morgan has established ten year agreements with a
number of U.S. and Chinese oil companies to supply increased amounts of
bitumen. This belies
the argument that the pipeline will create permanent good-paying jobs.
Refinery workers at Chevron report that Kinder-Morgan's main concern is
to export
crude bitumen for its higher off-shore price rather than ensure
feed-stock for the refinery. Without guaranteed feedstock, the refinery
will close, and the BC
Lower Mainland will be compelled to import gas and oil products from
the large Cherry Point refinery in Washington. Already three refineries
near the
Chevron facility have closed over the past decades: Ioco, Shellburn and
BA. Unifor, the union representing Chevron workers, has taken a stand
against
increased piping or shipping of bitumen outside Canada, arguing instead
for domestic refining and more rational production and use of the oil
sands.
The heart of the opposition to the Kinder-Morgan
proposal, as is the case with the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal,
is the fact that the monopolies
and governments in their service are making decisions that affect the
lives and livelihoods of the people without their consent, say and
control over those
decisions.
Strengthening the resolve of the people was the August 4
mining disaster in the BC interior, which revealed government
deregulation and company
"self-regulation" created the conditions for the catastrophe. Facts are
piling up proving that the collapse of the tailing pond at the Imperial
Metals Mount
Polley mine was preventable and caused by the negligence of the company
and government. More and more people are convinced that the private
interests
of the monopolies have taken over governments and the people must
organize to fight back to protect the public interests and general
interests of society
and deprive monopoly right of its power to run roughshod over public
right.
Legal Challenges
Two legal challenges are aspects of the resistance
against
Kinder-Morgan. The Tsleil-Waututh First Nation launched one in May
against the National
Energy Board (NEB). The Tsleil-Waututh argues that the NEB ignored
indigenous rights, including the right of First Nations to deny consent
for projects
that cross their indigenous homeland.
In a second action, the City of Burnaby has challenged
Kinder-Morgan's right, also granted by the NEB, to cut down the forest
on Burnaby Mountain
to allow testing to see if the land is stable enough to tunnel through
the mountain. While the BC Supreme Court denied the city's injunction,
the NEB recently
rejected Kinder-Morgan's application for an injunction to prevent the
City of Burnaby enforcing its by-laws on the grounds that it would
require a
constitutional challenge, a decision which effectively halts the survey
project on Burnaby Mountain for the time being.
As part of the conflict with the city, Kinder-Morgan in
turn has threatened to abandon the Burnaby Mountain tunnel project and
revert to its original
route through highly-populated Burnaby neighbourhoods. It sent a letter
to Burnaby residents asserting that the pipeline is going ahead one way
or the other.
The company said the people of Burnaby would be wise to support the
company's plan to tunnel through the mountain and not have the new
pipeline winding
through their city streets.
State-organized intimidation of those opposing the
project has also increased. The intelligence branch of the RCMP has
opened an investigation of a
Burnaby citizen for merely photographing the Kinder-Morgan tank
facilities while she was standing outside the protective fence.
Speakers at the September 13 Burnaby Mountain rally
against the pipeline proposal said people have to stand up to monopoly
right. More and more
people are realizing that under the rubric of "jobs" and "economy," the
Harper and Clark governments represent private monopoly right,
especially the oil,
gas and resource extractors' right to trample on public right and the
public interests. This must change. The people must have the political
power to have
a say and control over those decisions that affect their lives.
Tsleil-Waututh Nation Launches Legal Challenge
On May 2, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation issued the following
press release:
Today, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, the "People of the
Inlet", is launching a legal challenge of the National Energy Board's
(NEB) review of the Kinder
Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker project. The Nation says that
serious legal errors made by the federal Crown and NEB have led to a
flawed
and unlawful review process that puts Burrard Inlet and all peoples who
live here at risk.
This is the first legal challenge by a First Nation
against the new pipeline and tanker proposal, and it opens the project
to significant delay and
uncertainty.
"The Crown and NEB are running roughshod over our
Aboriginal Title and Rights. The process to review Kinder Morgan's
proposed pipeline expansion
and tanker project was designed without First Nations consultation or
public participation. The timelines appear to have been designed to
rush through
approvals," says Chief Maureen Thomas, Tsleil-Waututh Nation.
Legal materials to be filed in the Federal Court of
Appeal today will demonstrate that, among other things, the NEB lacked
legal authority to start its
review process because of the federal government's failure to first
consult Tsleil-Waututh on key decisions about the environmental
assessment and regulatory
review of the project. A backgrounder on the details of the appeal may
be found here.
"Our laws establish a sacred trust, a responsibility to
care for our lands, air and waters. The federal government has forced
us to go to court to defend
ourselves and our territory. We will fight this unilateral and
one-sided review process, and this project with all legal means," says
Rueben George, Sacred
Trust Initiative, Project Manager Public Engagement, Tsleil-Waututh
Nation.
The one-sided review would see Tsleil-Waututh elders
cross-examined by pipeline company lawyers, but company experts and
representatives would
not need to testify under oath themselves.
"This challenge goes to the heart of the Crown's
assertion that it can make unilateral decisions about our territories,"
continues Chief Maureen Thomas.
"Our nation has self government authority to review and make decisions
that affect our territory according to our own Law. Canada's own
environmental
assessment laws confirm this jurisdiction, and the government's failure
to consult and cooperate with us as Governments has landed them in
court. We are
enforcing our own laws. We are enforcing Canadian environmental law."
If approved, Kinder Morgan's proposal would see the
transport of tar sands oil expanded from its present level of
approximately 300,000 barrels per
day to 890,000 barrels per day. With an almost seven-fold increase in
oil tankers moving through Burrard Inlet and the Salish Sea, an
increase in groundings,
accidents, incidents, leaks and oil spills would be inevitable.
A serious oil spill would devastate an already-stressed
marine environment and risks collapses in the remaining salmon stocks
and further contamination
of shellfish beds, wiping out Indigenous fishing and harvesting rights.
Tsleil-Waututh Nation is a progressive and vibrant Coast
Salish community of approximately 500 members. The Nation is located
along the shores of
Burrard Inlet in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada, across the Inlet from
the Burnaby terminus of Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline.
The Nation's Sacred Trust Initiative is mandated to
oppose and stop the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline project. For
more information visit
www.twnsacredtrust.ca and follow the Sacred Trust Initiative on
Twitter: @TWNSacredTrust.
Burnaby Rally
More than 500 people participated in a rally at the top
of Burnaby Mountain on September 13, organized by Burnaby
Residents Opposing
Kinder-Morgan Expansion (BROKE). Speakers at the rally included
Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan, the President of the Union of BC Indian
Chiefs Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, Kennedy Stewart NDP MP for
Burnaby-Douglas, and Eugene Kung the Staff Counsel for West Coast
Environmental Law.
Burnaby, a city within Greater Vancouver, is the site of
the Westridge Terminal where the current Kinder-Morgan pipeline ends.
At the Westridge
Terminal, 300,000 barrels of oil per day are loaded onto tankers.
Approval of the Kinder-Morgan plan to increase the amount of oil being
shipped to the
Westridge Terminal would result in expansion of the terminal, an
increase in the size of the pipeline, as well as at least a partial new
pipeline, and a
huge increase in the number of tankers travelling through Burrard Inlet
and the Salish Sea carrying oil for export. Kinder-Morgan is actively
engaged in
exploration to determine a new pipeline route, including cutting down
trees in the Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area that is owned by the
City of
Burnaby.
Mayor Corrigan explained that Burnaby City Council is
unanimous in opposing Kinder-Morgan's efforts to build a pipeline
either by tunnel through
Burnaby Mountain or through the conservation areas on Burnaby Mountain
owned by the City of Burnaby. Referring to the progressive history of
residents of the Lower Mainland, including Burnaby, Corrigan spoke of
the residents who stand against the danger of nuclear war, who opposed
the war
in Vietnam and racism and discrimination against women. Corrigan said
this fight is against "corporate culture, the idea that
multinational corporations
could become bigger than countries and more powerful than countries."
Those companies have
full-time staff working in places like Ottawa to lobby politicians to
convince them that their interests coincide with the
interests of the multinational corporations, Corrigan said. The
multinationals are not acting in the best interests of Canadian
citizens but in their own
interests, he emphasised. In the case of Kinder-Morgan, he explained
that the company went to the National Energy Board saying it needed
additional
money to do the pipeline application. The National Energy Board awarded
it $135 million as a surcharge on oil to be paid by consumers,
non-taxable,
for them to build a war chest to make this application. Kinder-Morgan
President Ian Anderson boasted at the last Annual General Meeting that
this
project application would not cost the shareholders a penny because it
was all being taken from Canadians.
Mayor Corrigan said that although the project was
described as a "twinning" of the existing pipeline, Kinder-Morgan never
intended to use the
existing right-of-way. If the plan to bore a tunnel through Burnaby
Mountain is found to be seismically not feasible, the City of Burnaby
believes that it
will identify a route through the Burnaby Mountain conservation area
that could be used. He said that Burnaby Council, supported by
Vancouver
Council and others, are opposing the Kinder-Morgan proposal because
apart from everything else, it will increase by sevenfold the danger of
an oil spill
in Burrard Inlet, which will be catastrophic for the people and the
environment.
Eugene Kung, staff counsel to West Coast Environmental
Law, reminded the rally that Kinder-Morgan not only wants to dig
through Burnaby
Mountain Park, but has also applied to the BC government to construct
its pipeline through four provincial parks. This was just made possible
by a new
law pushed through the Legislature last February, opening BC parks to
industrial development.
Kung said resistance to this corporate giant must defy
conventional rules. He spoke of the Tsilhqot'in June 26 court decision
noting it deals with the
collective nature of First Nation land title rights and the right of
future generations to benefit from the land. He said people should
defend our assets like
the park as collective rights, which must also be handed down to future
generations.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip first thanked the host First
Nations of the region. He contrasted the interests of the people, First
Nations and all who
have settled and work in BC, with the corporate interests that are
reflected in the actions of government. He pointed out that when over
200 BC First
Nation Chiefs met with the BC Liberal cabinet on September 11, and were
working to draft a joint communiqué, they were angered to find
out that the
communiqué had been "shopped around" to the
Business Council of BC before the meeting. This shows to whom the Clark
government is
accountable.
Grand Chief Phillip said the Harper government is no
different. Also making the struggle to defend the people's rights
against the interests of
corporations like Kinder-Morgan yet more urgent is the appointment of
Jim Prentice as the new Premier of Alberta. Prentice was a former
employee of
Enbridge whose job was to get indigenous nations on side with the
Northern Gateway pipeline project.
To loud applause, the Grand Chief said the people
through their united actions are the force that can stop Kinder-Morgan.
National Energy Board Ruling Halts Surveying
on Burnaby Mountain
Kinder-Morgan began surveying on Burnaby Mountain in a
Conservation Area controlled by the City of Burnaby at the beginning of
September, drilling
and cutting down trees. The company said this rash action was in
preparation to implement its proposal to increase the bitumen it ships
by pipeline from
Alberta to its tank farm and Westridge marine terminal in Burnaby.
The city issued a Stop Work Order on September 3,
claiming that city by-laws prohibited the actions of the company in a
conservation area. The City
was willing to permit the company to engage in “non-invasive” surveying.
Kinder-Morgan spokespersons said that it was acting in
accordance with the National Energy Board Act, Part V,
“Powers of Pipeline
Companies ,” Section 73, which states, in part:
“A company may, for the purposes of its undertaking,
subject to this Act and to any Special Act applicable to it,
“(a) enter into and on any Crown land without previous
licence therefor, or into or on the land of any person, lying in the
intended route of its pipeline,
and make surveys, examinations or other necessary arrangements on the
land for fixing the site of the pipeline, and set out and ascertain
such parts of the
land as are necessary and proper for the pipeline;”
The contention of the City of Burnaby is that it has the
right to enforce its by-laws. Burnaby Mayor Corrigan was quoted in the Vancouver
Observer saying, “It's astonishing that, as a private corporation,
Kinder Morgan thinks they have the right to override our citizens'
wishes and the
laws that have been put in place to reflect the value our citizens
place on these sensitive irreplaceable ecosystems.”
Kai Nagata, energy and democracy director with the
Dogwood Initiative, quoted in an article on the Desmog Canada
website commented
that the National Energy Board (NEB) provides no legitimate forum to
assess the desirability of a proposed pipeline: “There is no credible
democratic forum
in which to contest these projects, but in the meantime Burnaby is
flexing its limited jurisdiction any way it can in order to register
its opposition to this
project at the level of governance. It begs the question of where the
province is in all of this. If the city of Burnaby can hold up a
project by seven months,
they can issue stop work orders, and if they can be a stick in the
spokes of Kinder Morgan as they have been, what could the province be
doing to represent
its constituents and uphold the public interest with the resources and
jurisdiction available to them? I think what we're seeing is provincial
leaders basically
wash their hands of this whole fight and leave it up to First Nations
and municipalities and individual citizens rather than asserting their
responsibilities.”
On September 17, BC Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown
denied the city's application for an injunction to stop Kinder-Morgan
from proceeding with
the survey work. The city then filed a civil action claiming that the
federal regulator could not exempt the company from city by-laws.
Kinder-Morgan then filed a motion asking the National
Energy Board (NEB) to prohibit the city from obstructing its work.
The NEB rejected the Kinder-Morgan application on
September 25, on the grounds that the question of whether the City of
Burnaby bylaws are applicable
or not is a constitutional question. For the board to rule it requires
that the company serve formal notice to the attorneys general of Canada
and the
provinces.
This effectively halts the survey work that
Kinder-Morgan claims it needs to do to assess its proposed tunnel under
Burnaby Mountain. If the company
challenges the NEB ruling, it will be based on a complex constitutional
challenge that will put on the table the issue of whether the powers of
pipeline
companies trump municipal laws.
For Your Information
This is the text of the September 25 press release of
the National Energy Board:
NEB requires notice of
constitutional question to be
provided before considering Order
CALGARY - The National Energy Board (NEB or the Board)
requires notice of a constitutional question to be provided by Trans
Mountain Pipeline
ULC (Trans Mountain) before the NEB can consider their request for an
order for access to Burnaby Mountain. The company requested access to
the area
in order to conduct studies and surveys in support of its application
to expand the Trans Mountain Pipeline.
In the ruling [Filing A63041], issued today, the Board
said that the motion filed by Trans Mountain raises a constitutional
question as to whether City
of Burnaby bylaws are inapplicable to the company as it exercises its
powers under the National Energy Board Act and whether the city should
be prevented
from enforcing those bylaws.
Neither Trans Mountain nor the City of Burnaby have
provided formal notice to the attorneys general of Canada and the
provinces as is required when
raising a constitutional question. Therefore the Board cannot consider
this motion unless such notice is provided.
The Board said that since Trans Mountain is requesting
an order directed against the City of Burnaby, Trans Mountain should be
the one to provide
notice. Should Trans Mountain choose to raise a constitutional
question, the Board has indicated its willingness to decide the issue
through an expedited
process.
BC Mayors and City Councillors Demand a Say in Resource
Development and Transportation of Dangerous Goods in Their Communities
The annual convention of the Union of BC Municipalities
was held from September 22 to September 26 in Whistler BC. A number of
emergency
resolutions were passed on the last day of the convention related to
the proposed expansion of the Kinder-Morgan pipeline and the approval
process of the
federal government. The resolutions, submitted by Burnaby, Victoria and
Vancouver called for full public hearings prior to National Energy
Board (NEB)
decisions, an independent environmental assessment of the project by
the province, and a demand that the NEB develop site specific plans to
deal with a
spill of diluted bitumen and that there be a provincial assessment of
those plans.
The convention defeated a Burnaby motion to oppose the
Kinder-Morgan expansion plan outright.
The Kinder-Morgan pipeline expansion is of particular
concern to municipalities in the Lower Mainland due to both the
increased danger from the pipeline
itself and the huge increase in tanker traffic, as the enlarged
capacity is for export. Similar concerns have led First Nations and
thousands of BC residents
to oppose the Northern Gateway pipeline to Kitimat on the north coast
and the resulting increased tanker traffic.
The danger to the environment from a catastrophic oil
spill and the lack of confidence in the monopolies to prevent spills or
their capacity to control
and clean up are major concerns driving municipal councils to demand
accountability from the federal and provincial governments and to have
a say in
decisions that affect their communities.
Notably, the convention also passed a resolution calling
on the federal government to take immediate action to restrict old rail
cars, which are slated to
be taken out of service over the next three years, from carrying
volatile liquids.
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