SUNDAY September
15 2013
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Pipeline debate draws big crowd Kinder Morgan plans 7-fold increase in oil tankers ANNE WATSON awatson@nsnews.com
There were cheers, jeers and a lot of applause echoing throughout the District of North Vancouver’s council chamber Thursday night. The district hosted a public meeting on the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion by Kinder Morgan, with Mayor Richard Walton mediating. The public was free to ask questions to any of the panel speakers that included representatives from Kinder Morgan, the Georgia Strait Alliance,Tsleil-Waututh Nation and Port Metro Vancouver. MLAs Ralph Sultan, West Vancouver-Capilano, and Jane Thornthwaite, North Vancouver-Seymour, were also in attendance though neither took part in the discussions. “Our goal tonight is to provide you with information from a variety of perspectives so you can be better informed on this issue,” said Walton, addressing an overflowing room. Each panelist had 10 minutes to present, and were subsequently quizzed by district councillors. Members of the public had one minute to ask a question and the panelists had two minutes to respond. Michael Davies, senior director of marine development at Kinder
A packed council chamber listens to speakers at a public information meeting Thursday evening hosted by the District of North Vancouver.
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Morgan said it was heartening to see everyone taking time to get involved in the discussion. Davies said Kinder Morgan would apply to the National Energy Board for the pipeline expansion in December of this year. “Our application is primarily about the pipeline itself, but part of what we need to describe in the interview process is the effects of the
project on the environment, and in this case that includes the increased tanker traffic,” said Davies. The proposed pipeline would twin the existing one that runs from outside of Edmonton to the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby. Capacity would increase from 300,000 barrels per day to 890,000 barrels per day and tanker traffic would jump from an
average of five per month to around 34 per month. Davies said the application would look at the probability of risks and consequences should a spill occur today and observe how that would change with the project’s approval. “In Westridge today we have a single berth space, and we would propose to expand that to have three working berth spaces,” said
Davies. “Today we’re about three per cent of the total traffic in the port and if the project was approved the tanker traffic would be about 14 per cent of the total traffic.” The company is not asking to dredge or change the nature of the ships, Davies said. Duncan Wilson, vicepresident of corporate social responsibility at
Port Metro Vancouver said the port would also be involved with the project application through their environmental, planning and operational teams. “It’s going to be a harmonized process where the National Energy Board is going to lead the overall review and Port Metro Vancouver will contribute into that review,” See ‘Dilbit’ page 5
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