Trans Mountain Clears B.C. Environmental Hurdles: More Barriers Ahead
By Heather Douglas
The sport of hurdling, the act of running and jumping over a series of obstacles, is a track-and-field highlight at the Summer Olympics. The hurdlers, as the contestants are called, sprint towards a number of barriers, all set at precisely measured heights and distances which each athlete must pass by running over.
The rules, established by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the various Hurdling Federations, are stringent. “Failure to pass over, by passing under, or intentionally knocking over hurdles will result in disqualification,” the guidelines state. “Accidental knocking over of hurdles is not cause for disqualification, but the hurdles are weighted to make doing so disadvantageous.” International Olympic Committee, Rules for Hurdling (2016).
The bigwigs at Kinder Morgan must feel like tired, but seasoned athletes, in the International, National, and Provincial Pipeline Olympics.
After all, they have safely and successfully shipped millions of barrels of crude from Alberta to British Columbia since 1953. Yet the anti-fossil fuel activists, sitting in the bleachers, fail to applaud this 64-year record. They throw rocks – in the form of petitions, sit-ins, histrionics at open houses, disruptions at the hearings, and even file onerous legal actions – to deliberately topple the regulatory requirements and disqualify the company’s application.
On January 11, 2017 the British Columbia government announced that Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain $6.8 billion pipeline expansion project – to triple the line’s oil capacity to 890,000 barrels a day — had successfully jumped over the hurdles they earnestly called “Environmental Assessment Certificates.”
The only problem is, that a time-out has been called, while B.C. officials erect another 37 hurdles that the company must vault. And that’s on top of the 157 barriers, laughingly called “conditions,” demanded by the National Energy Board (NEB) when it approved the project in November, 2016.
B.C. Premier Christy Clark had previously announced that Kinder Morgan had to bound over five conditions – spill response, an economic benefits package that pays the province for the “risks associated with the pipeline and increase tanker traffic, more consultation with the Indigenous Peoples, the development of a species-at-risk-plan (especially mitigating and monitoring grizzly bears), research conducted on the behavior and clean-up of “heavy oils spilled in freshwater and marine aquatic environments to provide spill responders with improved information on how to respond to pollution.”
According to BC’s Environment Minister Mary Polak and Natural Gas Development Minister Rich Coleman, it’s clear the project has economic benefits for B.C. workers, families, and communities. “We believe environmental protection and economic development can occur together, and the conditions attached to the Environmental Assessment certificate reflect that.”
Of course the project faces strong local opposition, especially amongst the hoi piloi of the Lower Mainland.
Burnaby’s Mayor, Derek Corrigan, was quoted by CBC News saying the project would see seven times the number of oil tankers in Burrard Inlet, off Vancouver’s coast. “I am surprised they have made this decision without negotiating any resolve on the conditions. I guess she [Premier Clark] has just conceded to the federal government on the issue and put up conditions to look like she has gained something.”
Kinder Morgan is gearing up to leap over these new barriers. The company diplomatically acknowledges that many of the federal and provincial conditions apply during various stages of the project’s life cycle, including pre-construction, during construction, and during operation of the pipeline system.
“These conditions are designed to reduce possible risk identified during the application process,” the company says. “These project-specific conditions are in addition to existing regulations, codes, and standards, and our [own] 1,000 plus commitments. They ensure the pipeline system is planned, built, and operated safely.”
The “commitments” Kinder Morgan promised to keep were to address the anxieties, apprehensions, and distresses raised by the public, local and provincial governments, and Aboriginal groups. They range from specific emergency response promises, pipeline routing obligations, and construction execution vows.
It remains to be seen if the head of the IOC, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his provincial counterpart, Premier Clark, will soon award Kinder Morgan with two gold medals. The company will have completed both the sprint event and the marathon, cross-country steeplechase competition. Even more interesting will be whether or not the activist crowd in the bleachers stands and sings the national anthem, hearts swelling in pride.
Perhaps it doesn’t matter. Kinder Morgan’s raison d’etre is to lay steel pipe in the ground, ship oil to the coast, and ensure that nothing goes wrong.
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