Trans Mountain has met all its pre-construction conditions for the expansion of the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, according to the National Energy Board.
In a letter posted on the NEB’s website on Wednesday, the national energy regulator said “all condition filings and related correspondence were assessed with rigor.”
However, on Aug. 24, the NEB sent a letter to Canada’s minister of natural resources, informing him that only 27 of the 49 conditions necessary to start construction at the terminal had been met.
Rob Steedman, the NEB’s chief environmental officer, told the NOW while it seems like a short timeline, filings have been coming in since January.
“We’ve issued more than 50 information requests, so it’s been back and forth, and there’s a lot of work just on the go. In the last week or so, the filings have come in and they’ve been cleared,” he said.
The conditions cover a wide range of topics, including safety, emergency preparedness and response, protection of the environment and financial responsibility.
“The conditions are intended to dial in the design and the oversight to ensure certain things happen. In a lot of cases, they would happen, but they wouldn’t be as highlighted and documented and as transparent,” said Steedman. “The conditions are that kind of final icing on the regulatory framework.”
In an emailed statement, Trans Mountain spokesperson Ali Hounsell said meeting the conditions is “a significant milestone” for the company. Trans Mountain still needs to acquire permits from the Port of Vancouver and Fisheries and Oceans Canada for the terminal expansion.
According to Trans Mountain’s website, construction at the terminal is scheduled to start this month, with crews preparing the site.
The Westridge Marine Terminal is the first part of the $7.4-billion pipeline project to have shovels in the ground. When completed, the Edmonton-to-Burnaby pipeline will carry diluted bitumen at three times its current capacity.
Wednesday’s announcement comes on the heels of news that B.C. has received intervener status in the pipeline expansion legal battle that will take place in the Federal Court of Appeal. Several First Nations and municipalities have filed legal challenges against the approval the federal government gave the project, and the lawsuits have been combined.
Karl Perrin, a spokesperson for Burnaby Residents Opposed to Kinder Morgan Expansion, is encouraging folks not to do anything through the month of September that could risk arrest.
“We will, perhaps, be shaming Kinder Morgan for putting 30,000 people on Burnaby Mountain at risk, but not attempting to stop them from doing their work,” he told the NOW, adding there will be protests. “We may be witnessing, but we will not be interfering. That’s my personal wish.”
He believes the battle against Kinder Morgan is to be won in the courts.
“Wait until the court cases in October are over before any other actions. I think that’s our best chance, what we have in the courts and the support of the province,” he said. “If that’s not successful, then we’d have to consider other strategies.”
In November 2014, protesters were arrested on Burnaby Mountain for interfering with Kinder Morgan’s survey work.
Hearings
On Thursday, the NEB announced detailed route hearings will start in November. They'll start in segments one and two (of seven) located in Alberta. Those in B.C. will take place in 2018. (Dates and schedules will be posted on the NEB's website at www.neb-one.gc.ca/transmountainexpansion).
From April to July, the NEB received 452 statements of opposition to the proposed detailed route.
Trans Mountain has applied for seven variations of the approved pipeline, according to the NEB, which in total affect around four kilometres of the 1,147-kilometre pipeline corridor. A route alignment hearing is scheduled for next January in Chilliwack.
