Pipeline opponents are planning an anti-Kinder Morgan rally for the upcoming National Energy Board hearings in Burnaby.
The final oral arguments for the hearing start on Tuesday, Jan. 19 at the Delta Burnaby Hotel, and a couple of thousand people are expected to rally outside on Saturday, Jan. 23.
“We want to remind both the NEB and our newly elected government that the communities this pipeline runs through don’t consent to it being built. The more people that come down, the stronger that message is,” said Sven Biggs from Forest Ethics, one of the groups organizing the event. Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion and 350.org are also involved.
Biggs said the event will be peaceful and family friendly, and there’s no intent to disrupt the proceedings, because many of those presenting are opposed to the pipeline and considered “allies.”
Only intervenors are allowed to make final oral arguments, and the general public is not allowed inside where the sessions are taking place. The NEB will, however, broadcast the proceedings online, but Biggs still took issue with the closed aspect of the hearings.
“I think calling an online video stream a public hearing is a little weak,” he said. “If they were sincere about negotiating with the community there would be open hearings anyone could attend.”
Forest Ethics is an intervenor and was eligible to make a final argument, but the group decided against it.
“I guess it reflects our frustration with the process and how biased it’s been at this point. We thought our energies would be better used by working with the community,” Biggs said.
Kinder Morgan’s work on Burnaby Mountain last fall drew countless protesters and saw more than 100 people arrested. The pipeline company wants to twin the Trans Mountain line, which runs oil from Alberta to Burnaby. The expansion would require adding more storage tanks on Burnaby Mountain and building a bigger marine terminal, which would create more tanker traffic on the Burrard Inlet.
Clarification: Please note, the original version of this story was missing the date of the rally, which is Saturday, Jan. 23. Meanwhile, BROKE has decided to organize another rally on Jan. 19, for the start of the hearings. Apologies for any confusion.
