Dear Editor
By my count, Burnaby has lost four court battles over the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion project. As someone who testified many times at the National Energy Board (NEB) over a decade, I am familiar with the NEB act and their jurisdiction.
I am astounded that Burnaby is wasting so much ratepayers’ money on efforts that, judging by Mayor Corrigan’s statement in the Sun’s Nov. 24 article (“And we aren’t surprised by this decision. Precedents were against us and we were well aware of that when we entered into these proceedings.”), he knew they were going to lose, as I suspect did anyone familiar with the NEB’s authority.
Now Burnaby wants to spend more ratepayers’ money on an appeal. I am glad I am not a Burnaby taxpayer; if I were, I would be asking what Burnaby has spent on these four lost cases and their consultants and lawyers in the NEB proceedings! I suspect millions.
Leaving aside the money, let’s consider why common sense should have told Burnaby they would (and should) never win a case that sought to make a municipality’s bylaws trump NEB rulings. If this were allowed, every municipality affected by an interprovincial or international project (the NEB’s purview) could delay or stop a power line project, a gas or oil pipeline, etc.
The next “logical” step in Burnaby’s approach would be to allow municipalities to negate B.C. Utility Commission jurisdiction, and overrule the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission.
The result would be utter chaos in Canada and B.C. What is Burnaby council thinking?
John Hunter, P. Eng., North Vancouver
