The City of Burnaby and local residents are raising a multitude of concerns about Kinder Morgan's pipeline expansion plan, including earthquakes, terrorism, health impacts, property values, expropriation and schools.
The deadline for the first round of information requests for the National Energy Board's hearing passed Monday, May 12. The City of Burnaby filed one of the larger info requests, at 300 pages with an estimated 1,500 queries, and Mayor Derek Corrigan did not mince words when speaking about the proposal.
"Each one of these questions about Kinder Morgan's poorly planned proposal requires a considered, comprehensive response," he said in a media release. "These are critical questions that focus on the hundreds of ways in which Kinder Morgan's proposed pipeline and tank farm would threaten our city's safety, security and livability."
The city's documents raise concerns about property values, earthquakes, terrorism or vandalism, health impacts, air quality, emergency response capabilities, the tank farm expansion and its proximity to the Forest Grove community, among other items. The city, which has already come out against the pipeline, also threatened to withhold services, such as access to additional water or traffic adjustments during construction or emergencies.
"If Trans Mountain does not have social licence and consent from Burnaby, those services may not be made available," the documents read.
The Burnaby Teachers' Association filed a one-page document with eight questions.
The local branch of the B.C. Teachers' Federation wants a guarantee that school property won't be expropriated. The association also asked questions on how to handle emergencies, and how the pipeline expansion would reduce carbon emissions.
Intervenor Angelika Hackett, a resident of an east Burnaby housing complex close to the proposed routes, raised concerns about bureaucracy, exporting bitumen to China, jobs and potential environmental effects, among other things.
Glen Porter, who sits on the city's environmental committee, focused on the Burnaby Mountain storage tank facility, which is slated for expansion. Porter is concerned about how close the tank farm is to his housing co-op, and raised the spectre of spills in the Silver Creek watershed.
Burnaby resident Danielle Vezina, whose Hastings Street home sits along one of the proposed routes, raised concerns about expropriation and property values and a real estate company that approached her about selling her home.
"What is Kinder Morgan's relationship to the developer?" she asked. (The NOW contacted the real estate company, which said the proposal had nothing to do with the pipeline.)
Vezina also raised concerns about people's ability to sell property.
"No one wants to purchase a home that may have a pipeline running through it, or in close proximity to it," she wrote. "The application is currently affecting our land value and our ability to put our house for sale if we so chose to."
Kinder Morgan has until June 13 to respond to the first round of information requests. The deadline to file for the second is Sept. 11.
