WEDNESDAY
PILOTS FLYING HIGH
JANUARY 20, 2016
Abbotsford team continue strong PJHL season with pair of wins over the weekend A22
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Pipeline: Landowners cite contaminated soil, flooded fields Group wants ongoing compensation from Kinder Morgan Abbotsford News
Fraser Valley farmers say they have had their soil contaminated, their fields flooded and been harassed by the operator of the Trans Mountain Pipeline. Now they want payback. The allegations by members of the Collaborative Group of Landowners Affected by Pipelines (CGLAP) are contained in the group’s written submission to the National Energy Board (NEB), which will decide in the spring on whether to allow Kinder Morgan Canada to twin the pipeline, nearly tripling its capacity to 890,000 barrels of oil and other petroleum products per day. The group, which comprises rural Fraser Valley property owners who control 79 pieces of land through which about 60 kilometres of the pipeline runs, told the NEB that the pipeline affects their ability to farm. And while the group said they are not opposed to the pipeline, they told the NEB that Kinder Morgan Canada should compensate them on an annual basis. They also asked the NEB to order Kinder Morgan to follow through on assurances to protect the quality of farmers’ land. “CGLAP members and
their ancestors have been dealing with inconvenience, and sometimes harassment, relating to the existing pipeline on their properties which Trans Mountain has been using for over 60 years,” the group said in its submission. Peter Reus, the president
of the group, said Kinder Morgan should realize the landowners “want to be partners with them.” With the provincial government saying they won’t yet support the pipeline application, Reus said, “They need friends.” The CGLAP submission
Continued on A3
A5 Abby hip hop artist Saint Soldier releases music video about youth gang involvement
A3 Police are looking for occupants of two vehicles after bullets fly Sunday night
FUNDRAISER FOR FAMILY A10 Efforts to help mom and kids who lost their possessions in New Year’s Eve blaze
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Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A21
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Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . .A27
85¢ Peter Reus, the president of a group of Fraser Valley landowners whose land is crossed by the Trans Mountain Pipeline, says he TYLER OLSEN Abbotsford News and his fellow farmers “want to be partners” with the pipeline company.
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said he found oil-contaminated soil on a plastic tarp. He was later told that the oil was taken to a hazmat site in Chilliwack. Omichinski said he also had a hay mower destroyed after running over a metal sign that had been laid down in a
includes several affidavits about the hardships the pipeline has imposed upon members. One Abbotsford farmer, Ron Omichinski, said that in 2013, pipeline workers came to his property for a 42-day “integrity dig.” After smelling oil, Omichinski
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