Dear Editor:
Re “MP launches online tool to educate people about the Kinder Morgan pipeline,” Burnaby NOW, April 6.
Burnaby NOWreaders, particularly online, should be cautioned not to rely too much on Kennedy Stewart’s online tool if it tells them their postal code is not at risk from Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
I live in Chilliwack, where the proposed pipeline route crosses the city’s protected groundwater zone within capture zones of city wells. It goes on to cross a river along one of four fault lines on the route identified by Natural Resources Canada as being of particular concern, just upstream of other community wells that are alongside the river. There is more, but those are perhaps the most egregious risks posed here by the route of the pipeline project.
Kennedy Stewart’s online tool said my postal code is not at risk. Yet a pipeline spill could mean that my home, and my whole community, suddenly has no water supply. I think my postal code is at risk and will be filing a statement of opposition to say so to the NEB and hopefully get the pipeline route rejected where it crosses this aquifer.
Burnaby NOW readers should look carefully at their own situation, with the lens of local knowledge, before deciding whether to make use of what is otherwise a good tool provided by MP Stewart.
Ian Stephen, Chilliwack
