As the city awaits a decision from B.C. Supreme Court for an injunction to stop Kinder Morgan, anti-pipeline activists are bracing for a blockade on Burnaby Mountain. The protesters are planning to stop the company from resuming survey work for a new pipeline route.
“We’re trying to organize to have some people here at all times,” said SFU English professor Stephen Collis, speaking on the phone from the site Tuesday morning. “The group has agreed we are going to try and block (Kinder Morgan). Numbers of bodies is what we need. We’re going to try and impede them if they come back to do their work.”
Many of the activists are from BROKE, Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion, and they’ve been taking turns watching over the woods at bore hole area 1, a small clearing in the conservation area, just a short hike from Horizons Restaurant.
Kinder Morgan needs to finish survey work for a new pipeline route through the mountain – work the National Energy Board has sanctioned – but the City of Burnaby has gone to the B.C. Supreme Court for an injunction to stop the company. The city maintains Kinder Morgan cut down 13 trees (the company says seven), in violation of a city bylaw prohibiting people from damaging city parks.
The B.C. Supreme Court decision is expected Wednesday morning, after deadlines. Madam Justice Brenda Brown is deciding on the case, and BROKE member Alan Dutton said Brown has not been favourable to protesters on environmental issues in the past.
The blockade plan is the latest in a series of activities on Burnaby Mountain. On Saturday, roughly 400 people showed up for an anti-pipeline rally. They gathered close to Centennial Way, by Horizons Restaurant, while five others chained themselves to the front gate of Kinder Morgan’s nearby marine terminal.
Burnaby RCMP were on site, and one protester chained to the fence was briefly arrested to confirm his identity but then released. Staff Sgt. Andy LeClair said police were there to remain impartial and that the protesters were “extremely reasonable and cooperative.” The protesters chained themselves for 13 hours – one hour for each tree cut down in the conservation area.
Burnaby mayor Derek Corrigan was at the Saturday protest, along with councillors Sav Dhaliwal, Paul McDonell, Nick Volkow and school trustee James Wang.
“Think about it: Kinder and Morgan, two guys who started Enron,” Corrigan said, as the crowd chuckled. “You can imagine the drain on our economy that it is that these corporate bureaucrats are able to milk the wealth away from people.”
Corrigan told the crowd the city has been receiving supportive correspondence from around the world for standing up to Kinder Morgan. He also explained the land was originally given to Simon Fraser University, but the city bought it back, and the residents of Burnaby voted in a referendum to keep the area as park land.
First Nations representatives Carleen Thomas from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation and Grand Chief Stewart Phillip from the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs were also at the rally.
The city’s lawyer Gregory McDade said Wednesday’s B.C. Supreme Court decision could go either way, and there will likely be appeals from either side. While the matter could be wrapped up in a matter of days or weeks, the protesters’ plan to blockade the mountain could lead to more court proceedings, he added.
Meanwhile, Kinder Morgan is awaiting the National Energy Board’s decision on the company’s request for an order that would force the city to let the survey work continue. The NEB is giving both sides a chance to comment before making a decision, which could come down this week.
Kinder Morgan stopped work on Burnaby Mountain on Sept. 3 and hasn’t returned. The company is waiting on decisions from the B.C. Supreme Court and the National Energy Board before proceeding.
