It's an anniversary, but there's little to celebrate.
Local residents opposed to Kinder Morgan's pipeline expansion are holding a rally to mark the anniversary of the 2007 pipeline rupture.
The rally, scheduled for Wednesday, July 24 at 7 p.m., will be held in Westridge Park, at 320 Cliff Ave.
The organizing group, Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion (BROKE), includes people whose homes were impacted by the rupture.
On July 24, 2007, city-hired workers digging along Burnaby's Barnett Highway broke the pipeline, which created a 30-metre geyser of crude that sprayed for 25 minutes, releasing more than 200,000 litres of oil in the surrounding area and the Burrard Inlet. Roughly 50 homes were impacted, and the rupture was blamed on inadequate pipeline maps.
Kinder Morgan wants to twin the existing line to nearly triple capacity to meet burgeoning demand for crude exports, and BROKE members are opposed.
"Now Kinder Morgan is proposing a new pipeline, cutting through Westridge, likely constructed alongside Cliff Avenue. If approved by the National Energy Board or directly by the federal government, this could box in residents in the Westridge area with the old oil pipeline running down Inlet Drive and the proposed new one running down Cliff Avenue," BROKE stated in a media release.
The residents are also concerned about Kinder Morgan's plan to add two more berths to the Westridge Marine Terminal, where tankers fill up with crude.
