Burnaby wins ruling against Kinder Morgan

Kinder Morgan Westridge Marine Terminal gate – photo by Mychaylo Prystupa, Vancouver Observer.

City of Burnaby wins key ruling with National Energy Board against Kinder Morgan and its proposed $5.4 billion oil sands pipeline.

Mychaylo Prystupa, Vancouver Observer, Sept 25th, 2014

In what’s considered a huge win for the City of Burnaby’s legal battle to stop the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, the National Energy Board struck down the company’s application to forbid Burnaby city staff from blocking the pipeline company’s test drilling on Burnaby Mountain.

“Kinder Morgan is this arrogant company who assumed they could just go in and take direct action [to remove trees], based on their legal interpretation,” said Burnaby’s lawyer, Gregory McDade, Q.C. Thursday evening.

“They thumbed their nose at the law.”

“It turns out they were wrong,” added the lawyer.

RCMP anti-terror unit target 71 year old for photographing Kinder Morgan facility

Burnaby-Douglas MP Kennedy Stewart wants to hear from other pipeline opponents who feel targeted

By Natalie Clancy, CBC News, Sept 18, 2014

A 71-year-old B.C. grandmother was shocked to learn her recent research for an upcoming National Energy Board hearing triggered a national security investigation.

Lesslie Askin says that on Aug. 3, she photographed Kinder Morgan’s aging storage tanks at the base of Burnaby Mountain.

Ten days later, she learned she was a terror suspect.

Kinder Morgan’s $136 million pipeline ‘war chest’ to be paid by Canadians

Oil tanker prepares to fill up with Alberta Tar Sands oil at Burrard Inlet refinery.

“The decision to enable this unfair advantage is unprecedented. The approach has been rejected out of hand by US regulators,” said economist Robyn Allan.

Jenny Uechi, Vancouver Observer,July 1, 2014
In what an economist calls an “unprecedented” decision, the National Energy Board has allowed Kinder Morgan to build up a $136 million ‘war chest’ to fund its Trans Mountain pipeline expansion application through shipping surcharges. The charge, called a “firm service fee”,  allows Texas-based pipeline company Kinder Morgan to offload the cost of the pipeline application to Canadians.
“The decision to enable this unfair advantage is unprecedented. The approach has been rejected out of hand by US regulators,” said Robyn Allan, an independent economist and former CEO of ICBC, who outlined the finding in her report. 

Poll finds rising opposition in B.C. to Kinder Morgan TransMountain pipeline proposal

No Pipelines graffiti in East Vancouver.

By Brian Morton, Vancouver Sun, June 4, 2014

Opposition to Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has risen since the beginning of the year, a poll suggests.  Opposition has grown by six points since January (from 42 per cent to 49 per cent opposed) with women and young people (18 to 34) most opposed, according to a the Insights West poll released Wednesday.

Oil tanker explodes in Japan, stirs worries in B.C.

Black smoke and flames rising from an oil tanker that exploded off Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan on May 29, 2014.

On eve of a Northern Gateway decision in B.C., an oil tanker explodes off the coast of Japan

Mychaylo Prystupa, Vancouver Observer, May 29th, 2014

An oil tanker explosion Thursday morning off Japan’s coast is stirring fears on this side of the Pacific, where British Columbia is facing multiple oil and LNG gas proposals to rapidly increase tanker traffic.

A petroleum-soaked environmental disaster will likely be avoided this time in Japan’s waters, because the tanker was not filled with oil at the time.

Wall of Women stands opposed to Kinder Morgan in West Vancouver

Anne Watson, North Shore News, March 22, 2014

Protesters gathered in West Vancouver Saturday to take a stance on Kinder Morgan’s proposed expansion of its Trans Mountain pipeline.

Around 15 women, including representatives from the Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish and Musqueam First Nations, as well as Greenpeace campaigners, gathered for the Wall of Woman in the cold and rain by The Welcome Figure at Ambleside Beach to send a message to Kinder Morgan that a pipeline expansion was not welcome.

Kinder Morgan slammed for ‘accidentally’ omitting oil pipeline maps in federal application

Parliament asked to require Texas company to “re-start” its application after it neglected to upload oil pipeline maps to NEB website for people to see

Mychaylo Prystupa, Vancouver Observer, Feb 25th, 2014

Kinder Morgan was harshly criticized in the House of Commons Tuesday for not filing a complete application with maps for its Edmonton-to-Burnaby oil pipeline — a project that may disturb dozens of homes through several B.C. cities, depending on the path.

Coast Salish Unite to Protect Salish Sea

Oil tanker lurking in Burrard Inlet, where the Chevron refinery is located. Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain pipeline terminates here and oil is loaded onto tankers.

Tribal chairmen issue statement against Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain Pipeline expansion

Indian Country Today, Feb 17, 2014

The Lummi, Swinomish, Suquamish and Tulalip tribes of Washington, and the Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish and Musqueam Nations in British Columbia stand together to protect the Salish Sea. Our Coast Salish governments will not sit idle while Kinder Morgan’s proposed TransMountain Pipeline, and other energy-expansion and export projects, pose a threat to the environmental integrity of our sacred homelands and waters, our treaty and aboriginal rights, and our cultures and life ways.

Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline raises issue of Native-land grab

Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion: lowering pipes into trench.

by Travis Lupick, The Georgia Straight,Feb 12, 2014

An email sent by the president of Kinder Morgan Canada to the B.C. premier’s office reveals in frank language the challenge for oil companies posed by First Nations opposing pipeline projects.

Secwepemc Women Warrior Society disrupt meeting, No to Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline

Tuesday, January 14, 2014, Tk’emlups, unceded, unsurrendered Secwepemc Nation, (Kamloops, Bc, Canada)

Secwepemc Women Warrior Society said a resounding No! to the Kinder Morgan pipeline today at an illegal engagement session between government and elected chief and council in Kamloops. The session was to push forward the federal government’s recent Eyford report on West Coast energy infrastructure and supposed “tanker safety”.