The president of Kinder Morgan Canada is defending his company's decision not to release the oil spill emergency response plans related to the Trans Mountain pipeline to the public.
In a conference call on Friday, Ian Anderson told members of the press that there are security concerns with sharing the information with British Columbians.
"That doesn't mean that they're not available to municipalities, first responders and regulatory agencies along the right of way," he said. "We in no way want to have this perceived lack of transparency around our emergency response plans as any indication of us wanting to hide anything or keeping anything a secret."
Earlier this year, the NEB ruled Kinder Morgan didn't have to reveal some aspects of its emergency management plans, including specific response times and evacuation zone maps.
If completed, the $5.4-billion expansion project is expected to triple production capacity to 890,000 barrels a day, while increasing tanker traffic nearly seven fold.
"I have no concern about the very fabric and operational nature of those plans and their ability to protect the public and the environment within the areas we operate," Anderson said.
Some of the emergency response documents have been submitted to Washington state and published online. But Anderson noted they have been recently taken down for security reasons.
When asked what he'd say to parties needing more information, like the City of Burnaby and the province, Anderson said Kinder Morgan will meet with them directly in an "un-redacted form. It just won't happen through the NEB process."
Feb. 19 was Kinder Morgan's deadline to respond to the final round of information requests from interveners. So far, more than 16,000 questions have been asked. Anderson told reporters answers from this round were much more relevant and complete than the last round.
"We trust that interveners will see that and will conclude accordingly. Having said that, they have the opportunity to appeal," he said.
The pipeline project remains on schedule with an expected in service date of September 2018 should the federal government give its stamp of approval.
