http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/12/16/kinder-morgan-application_n_4454857.html
[multiple images and links in on-line article]
Kinder Morgan Application Filed With National Energy Board
By Dene Moore, The Canadian Press
Posted: 12/16/2013 2:52 pm EST | Updated: 12/16/2013 7:24 pm EST
VANCOUVER - Kinder Morgan Canada filed its long-anticipated application
to the National Energy Board on Monday to nearly triple the flow of oil
through its Trans Mountain pipeline from Edmonton to the British
Columbia coast.
The $5.4-billion project could result in a seven-fold increase in tanker
traffic in the waters that surround Vancouver.
The proposal is expected to face the same opposition that threatens to
stopper the competing Northern Gateway pipeline through northern B.C.,
but Kinder Morgan president Ian Anderson said the company spent months
talking to the public and First Nations to address concerns.
"I think that in the category of lessons learned, one of the things that
we pursued from the beginning and, in fact, increased over the course of
the last year and a half is the amount of outreach and local involvement
and conversations," Anderson said.
"We've watched with interest the issues that have been faced by other
proposed projects and tried to learn from them and incorporate our
understanding of them."
A federal joint review panel is expected to issue its report this week
on the Northern Gateway proposal, which has been plagued by controversy
and opposition from environmental groups and First Nations.
Anderson said one thing Texas-based Kinder Morgan has learned is the
critical role of First Nations consultation. He said the company has 46
letters of understanding among about 100 aboriginal communities and
groups in Alberta and B.C.
Those letters are not final support but do mean the parties are talking.
One band — the Paul Band First Nation west of Edmonton — announced
support for the project last week.
Kinder Morgan says 13 companies have signed contracts to ship
approximately 708,000 barrels per day. The pipeline would have capacity
to transport up to up to 890,000 barrels per day.
Currently, five ships a month are loaded at the company's Westridge
marine terminal in Burnaby. The expanded system will be capable of
serving 34 Aframax class vessels per month.
In the application, the company recommended improved safety measures,
including greater spill response capacity and a "moving safety zone"
around loaded tankers.
British Columbia has set out five conditions for its support for any oil
pipeline, and officially opposed the Northern Gateway at a joint federal
review panel earlier this year.
Andersen said he's confident the Trans Mountain application will satisfy
those conditions, which include a "fair share" of economic benefits.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said new oilsands
development could contribute more than $2.1 trillion to the economy over
the next 25 years.
Federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said the proposal will
undergo a thorough review by the National Energy Board.
"Our government has been clear: we will only allow energy projects to
proceed if they are found to be safe for Canadians after an independent,
scientific environmental and regulatory review," Oliver said in a statement.
B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak said the province will apply to be
an intervener at the hearings.
Polak said there are challenges but, in a thinly veiled reference to the
explosion of an oil-laden rail car in Lac Megantic, Que., suggested the
landscape has changed across Canada on the issue.
"Oil is looking for a way to get to market, and part of the
consideration for decision-makers at all levels of government is the
fact that there are other ways that may or may not be as safe, or less
safe, than a pipeline and tanker process," Polak said.
"All of that needs to be weighed in the balance. I think British
Columbians are much more alive now to that balancing than they were in
the past."
Opponents, however, wasted no time in blasting the plan.
The Wilderness Committee said the risks are not worth the economic gain.
Ben West, of ForestEthics Advocacy, said the new pipeline will transport
the same molasses-like diluted bitumen that Northern Gateway proposes,
and it will mean hundreds more tankers in Burrard Inlet.
West said the application may be new, but opposition is long established.
"Kinder Morgan has seen years of protest and they hadn't even filed
their proposal yet," he said in a statement.
"If they think they will have an easier time getting approved than
Enbridge they have another think coming. Politicians give the permits
but the people give the permission, and the people are saying no to both
of these irresponsible pipeline proposals."
Several Metro Vancouver councils have passed motions opposing the
pipeline, including Vancouver, and the Union of B.C. Municipalities
voted very narrowly to oppose growth in tanker traffic on the B.C. coast.
Kinder Morgan will continue to reach out to other parties, including the
city of Vancouver, Anderson said.
The pipeline proposal will now undergo a public review late next year.
If approved, the pipeline could be operational by late 2017.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said
30-fold increase.
--
Darryl McMahon
Project Manager,
Common Assessment and Referral for Enhanced Support Services (CARESS)
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