City of Vancouver Says Halt to Kinder Morgen's Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion

Joining the Squamish Nation, the Living Oceans Society, the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, among others, the City of Vancouver has asked the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal to stop Kinder Morgan's $6.8 billion Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project.

The National Energy Board, as previously reported in the PTJ "Pipeline Technology Journal" last month, deemed the Trans Mountain Expansion Project to be in the public interest and recommended the Federal Governor in Council approve the proposed expansion, subject to 157 conditions.

In its challenge, the City of Vancouver argues that National Energy Board failed to properly assess "whether the project is required by public convenience and necessity." Further, the City says that the board excluded oral cross-examination, provided inadequate information sharing and failed to properly consult communities along the pipeline and tanker route.

Chris Tollefson, a University of Victoria law professor who represented B.C. Nature and Nature Canada in the Trans Mountain hearings, said the legal challenges could force the federal government to delay its decision on the project.

“I think there’s a good possibility that the government will take a close look at these lawsuits and the claims that are being made, and it may, based on that, send some homework back to the NEB.”

Houston based Kinder Morgan wants to triple the capacity of its existing pipeline from the oil sands near Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C., thereby increasing the number of tanker ships in the area seven-fold.