Dear Editor:
Re: Where is the pipeline going?, Burnaby NOW, March 1. As a north Westridge resident, and part of the neighbourhood group that has been meeting with Kinder Morgan since the middle of June 2013, we would also like to know where is the pipeline going. Every time we ask it is explained that Cliff Avenue is the preferred route, but they are still looking at Burnaby Mountain, however, they can't get any info on the site because there is a covenant that they can't seem to confirm. It seems amazing that Kinder Morgan would let this impede their studies of this area, unless they're not interested.
Kinder Morgan doesn't seem too concerned that their number 1 route choice would completely enclose an area of 120 homes with their pipelines, even though they have consistently promoted "Trans Mountain's objective is to build the proposed new pipeline safely while minimizing impacts to neighbours."
This route, Cliff Avenue, also goes through the Burrard Inlet Conservation Area in spite of saying that it will "minimize impact on environment," and "all routing studies will consider human environment; land use, residences, commercial, recreation, park" and "Trans Mountain is committed to environmental stewardship".
North Westridge has only one exit/entrance, complicating construction and safety requirements,
which seems to be a risk Kinder Morgan is willing to take.
We asked if the Westridge ship terminal could be located further east, further away from our neighbourhood to ease noise and light pollution. Instead they moved it west, closer. This allows them to continue loading tankers during construction. I assume they can't accomplish this without spending additional funds.
We asked if they could add electrical ship plug-ins to ease air and noise pollution, similar to what the cruise ships have, their response; only five per cent of ships have plug-ins. Kinder Morgan wouldn't want to consider it a condition of being open for business.
We asked if they could tell us what kind of noise, air and lighting pollution levels they were projecting as well as what is the allowable level based on the Van Port and Burnaby permitting. After months of no answer, I wonder what they submitted to the National Energy Board.
It seems that in spite of their commitment to listen to the people's concerns, it is just an obligatory part of the process. In my opinion, the pipeline is going wherever Kinder Morgan wants it to.
Neil Syme, Burnaby
