The National Energy Board approved a tolling application linked to Kinder Morgan's pipeline expansion plan on Thursday.
The approval does not mean the pipeline expansion will go forward, per se. The application only covers the tolling methodology Kinder Morgan can use to charge customers if the pipeline is expanded.
Kinder Morgan Canada was not taking media interviews Thursday but issued a statement on behalf of president Ian Anderson.
"Today, the National Energy Board approved the commercial aspects of the project," he said in a media release. "The decision reinforces the market support for our expansion plans and it provides us the necessary economic certainty to proceed. As we continue the process, we look forward working with the new B.C. government and will remain committed to listening to questions and concerns as we develop our application to file with the NEB later this year."
Kinder Morgan wants to twin its existing pipeline, which runs oil from Alberta to the West Coast, increasing capacity from 300,000 barrels per day to 890,000. Vessels go to the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby to fill up with oil, and the associated marine traffic would rise to roughly 408 tankers per year.
Burnaby-Douglas MP Kennedy Stewart characterized the tolling application as phase 1 of the expansion plan for Kinder Morgan.
"If this hadn't been approved, it would have been dead in its tracks," Stewart said. "I think they can put a check mark beside phase 1 and move on to phase 2, and phase 2 will come this fall when they put in for a facilities application, and we'll finally see a map of the route, and the public consultation process of the National Energy Board will begin."
