Kinder Morgan's proposed $5b expansion

An estimated 200 Burnaby residents packed a seniors centre Wednesday night for a town-hall meeting called to educate locals on Kinder Morgan's proposed $5-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

The forum, hosted by the Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion (BROKE), featured a panel of anti-expansion speakers, including Burnaby Mayor Derrick Corrigan, NDP MP Kennedy Stewart, Ben West of the Wilderness Committee, Rueben George of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation and 11-year-old Ta'Kaiya Blanely of the Sliammon First Nation.

The speakers touched on a variety of topics, such as the environmental impacts of expansion, the projected spike in tanker traffic that will accompany expansion and the lack of emergency response mechanism should a spill occur.

"Always remember that each one of you has a voice and you shouldn't be afraid to speak up," Blanely said after performing a song she wrote.

Mary Hatch, a Burnaby resident and member of BROKE, recalled the damage inflicted on her neighbourhood when a section of the existing Kinder Morgan line ruptured in 2007.

She told the audience how a firefighter suddenly showed up at her door one day with news that she had to evacuate her house. She said she didn't know what was going on until she went outside and saw that her entire yard was covered in oil.

"It was on the steps, the railing, my gate and my walkway," she said. "Even my car was covered in oil."

Hatch said it took months for the community to recover from the spill. Both the inside and outside of homes were left damaged, as well as the soil in the area.

"We don't want to go through the next four years worrying about another pipeline going through our neighbourhood," she said. "Enough is enough."

The proposal, if given the green light by the National Energy Board, will more than double the current amount of crude flowing from Alberta to Burnaby to 850,000 barrels per day, up from the current 300,000 barrels per day.

This will see the associated annual tanker traffic jump from about 70 tankers per year to 360 to 365 tankers per year, Kinder Morgan has said.

The energy giant hadn't responded to a request for comment by deadline. But in previous interviews with The Province, Kinder Morgan has said that it's committed to abiding by the regulatory system and engaging in a thorough public-consultation process.

"We know that people will have concerns and there is lots of information that isn't out there that will come out," a spokesperson said in a previous interview. "We are looking forward to sitting down and having those discussions. We will have an open and transparent process."

Kinder Morgan intends to file its proposal to the National Energy Board by 2014. If granted, the company has said it's prepared to break ground on construction in 2016, with a completion date of 2017.

Wednesday night's forum was the first in a series of events and meetings that will be held to "inform and engage the citizens" of Burnaby and the Lower Mainland.