Province's position on Kinder Morgan broadly backed by B.C. residents




Kinder Morgan photo
A portion of the twinning of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain oil pipeline through Jasper National Park has already been built.

The B.C. government hasn’t closed the door tightly on Kinder Morgan’s plan to twin the Trans Mountain oil pipeline, but Monday’s submission to the National Energy Board from the province is certainly a devastating blow to the twinning proposal.
In particular, the province is unable to determine whether the project meets two of five conditions it has insisted upon for supporting heavy crude oil pipelines, based on the information provided. These relate to oil spills along the pipeline route and at the Burnaby marine terminal, and the company’s ability to respond to emergencies.
Most B.C. residents support the strong stance the province has taken, and the five conditions that Premier Christy Clark has insisted must be met for B.C. to accept such a pipeline.
It is important to remember that the Kinder Morgan pipeline played a significant role in the last provincial election in 2013. NDP leader Adrian Dix, who was well ahead in the polls halfway through the campaign, said that an NDP government wouldn’t support the pipeline. This was a significant shift from  his earlier position. The NDP leader had said the party was waiting for a formal application to be made to the NEB, and was keeping an open mind on the project.
That declaration was seized on by the BC Liberals in the campaign’s final two weeks. They told voters in ads and on doorsteps that the declaration proved the NDP was opposed to resource-based projects, and predicted many well-paying jobs would disappear. It helped the BC Liberals win a number of seats in the interior (the ridings including Merritt and Quesnel were two of them). it is unable to determine whether the project meets two of five conditions it has insisted upon for supporting heavy crude oil pipelines, based on the information provided. It also helped the BC Liberals win NDP-held seats in places like North Delta, and Surrey-Fleetwood. In that riding, Peter Fassbender beat incumbent NDP MLA Jagrup Brar by 200 votes. Fassbender made a point of talking to voters on doorsteps about bread and butter economic issues and said after his win that such conversations helped him win the seat.
The BC Liberals have been consistent on Kinder Morgan. If First Nations are on board, if there are world-class plans to contain any spills on the land or in the ocean, and if B.C. gets significant benefits from the project, the government will back it.
Thus far, the government is not getting the assurances it has asked for on oil spill prevention and responses. Some, but not all, First Nations back the project. Very few B.C. residents, almost all of whom take pride in our unique environment, would consider putting up with an oil spill as acceptable, in return for the economic benefits of a pipeline.
In terms of economic benefits, the B.C. government would be wise to look more closely into plans to build oil refineries in B.C. and ship refined products to Asia. One such proposal for a site in Kitimat has been put forward by Black Press owner David Black.
Such a project would provide very significant economic benefits (read good-paying jobs) to B.C., and at the same time, it would remove the potential of a damaging crude oil spill in the Pacific Ocean.
Questions also need to be asked how economically viable any pipeline project would be at this time, given both the low price of oil and the recent climate change accord.
Environment Minister Mary Polak’s announcement on Monday that the B.C. government has decided to come out against the Kinder Morgan proposal at this time, while leaving the door open for further discussions and information sharing, is the right one.

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