Court denies Burnaby’s bid to block Trans Mountain survey crews

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A BC Supreme Court judge has dismissed the City of Burnaby’s attempt to block Kinder Morgan from conducting pipeline survey work on its land.

The BC Supreme Court has rejected the City of Burnaby’s request for an injunction, which would have brought Kinder Morgan’s survey work on Burnaby Mountain to a stop.

“Regardless of how the court decisions go, I think what this whole episode has shown us is that the company does not have the social licence to build its pipeline through Burnaby Mountain or even in Burnaby as far as the local citizens are concerned,” says MP Kennedy Stewart.

The city is opposed to the expansion of the pipeline that would link the Alberta oilsands to the company’s tanker terminal in Port Metro Vancouver.

That opposition escalated when the company proposed tunnelling through Burnaby Mountain, home to Simon Fraser University and a large conservation area.

Stewart points to polling he’s done as an indicator, as well as recent protests.

“Over three quarters of citizens I’ve polled in Burnaby have said they’re against this thing,” says Stewart. “I think the company is going to run into obstacle after obstacle whatever route they’re planning to take through the city.”

If the city wishes, it can appeal this decision at the Supreme Court of Canada.

The National Energy Board previously upheld the company’s right to access the land, under federal law.

Earlier this month, Kinder Morgan asked the federal energy regulator to go further and forbid the city from obstructing crews.

 

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