Burnaby North MLA Richard Lee says Kinder Morgan has not met the majority of conditions set out by the provincial government for major oil projects.
“At this moment, although some progress has been made with (the) NEB recommendation to the federal government two months ago, four out of the five conditions remain unsatisfied,” Lee told the NOW in an email.
When asked for more details, Lee referred the NOW to comments he made to the National Energy Board outlining the five conditions: an environmental review, world-leading oil spill response, world-leading oil spill prevention, aboriginal and treaty rights addressed and a fair share of the economic benefits for B.C.
Meanwhile, Energy Minister Bill Bennett told media there’s been progress on the five conditions.
“We needed some help from the federal government, and they’re showing some signs that they’re prepared to invest in some marine spill clean-up infrastructure that we believe is necessary. Kinder Morgan is doing a lot of work on the terrestrial spill clean-up work, and we created some policy here just a while ago in B.C. that creates a protocol for what happens if there is a spill,” he said. “I think we’re making progress, and I think we’ll get there.”
Bennett also said his government was not opposed to pipelines. Click here for the transcript of his interview.
