An SFU student wants to make sure everyone on the Burnaby campus knows the “risks they’ll be facing” if the federal government approves the Kinder Morgan pipeline in December.
Grayson Barke, who’s currently completing an undergraduate degree in environmental resource management and is part of SFU’s student government, is organizing a town hall on the proposed Trans Mountain project. He plans to hold it sometime in November and invite a host of speakers, including the university’s chief safety officer Mark LaLonde, deputy fire chief Chris Bowcock, local MLAs and MPs, the mayor and SFU administration staff.
“I don’t think students know about the risks,” Barke told the NOW. “I think the company itself has done a very good job of keeping it quiet that there’s a facility there. It’s not something you see easily. It’s not something you learn about when you come to SFU. There is some information posted on SFU’s website, but it’s not something they talk about, the administration. There’s that general lack of awareness just about where SFU is located and what’s next to it.”
As a resident at UniverCity, the millennial said he’s terrified of a fire at the tank farm.
“I’m afraid for my life and for the lives of people in my community. I’m especially afraid for the kids at the elementary school who are right next to it.
“I sort of have to conclude no matter what anybody does to prepare for this, whether it’s fire suppression systems the company installs, whether it’s water bombers the Burnaby Fire Department has access to, whether we build a new road off the mountain to make evacuation a little more possible, I’m not sure anything is going to be enough in the worst-case scenario because we’re talking about an explosion that has the force of a small earthquake.”
He likened a Burnaby Mountain boil over to a 1982 fire at a tank farm in Venezuela, which killed 150 people and injured or burned another 300.
“The article talks about fire trucks melting because the heat is so intense. I don’t know. It just sounds like a nightmare, and I find it absurd that (Trans Mountain) is even being considered,” said Barke.
In an emailed statement, Ali Hounsell, spokesperson for the Trans Mountain expansion, said the health and safety of neighbours and communities the company operates in is its top priority.
“Discussions with Simon Fraser University are ongoing. SFU has participated in emergency management workshops, and we are committed to addressing the university’s interests in our terminal emergency response plans. We encourage anyone with questions about Trans Mountain pipeline and its facilities to contact us to ask questions,” she said.
Kurt Heinrich, director of communications at the university, told the NOW SFU has raised concerns about the risks, both as an intervener before the National Energy Board and in submissions to the Kinder Morgan review panel.
“(We made it clear) that we would not find acceptable any increase in health and safety risks to our community resulting from the project. We will continue to voice our concerns to the federal government and to Kinder Morgan, and to update the community about our findings. The health and safety of the SFU community – people who live, work and study on Burnaby Mountain – is the university’s highest priority,” Heinrich said in an email.
Meanwhile, Barke said there’s a “conscious or unconscious assumption” among SFU students that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will not give the $6.8-billion project the green light.
“(The Liberals) did promise to sort of overhaul the process and there hasn’t really been an admission or a discussion that that’s not happening,” he added.
In regards to the federal panel that visited communities along the pipeline route this summer, he said many of his peers wondered if that was the overhaul that was promised.
“I think it was hard for people to believe that this is all we’re getting, this is our last chance to say anything; a panel where nothing’s being recorded (and) they have no powers to recommend,” he explained.
The federal government will make a decision on the Kinder Morgan file by Dec. 19.
