Kinder Morgan has taken the next step in the process to twin its Trans Mountain Pipeline running from Alberta to Burnaby through Chilliwack.

The $4.1 billion project would more than double the capacity of the 1,150-kilometre pipeline from 300,000 to 750,000 barrels per day.

Through Chilliwack, the pipeline runs under farmers' fields, suburban lawns, Watson elementary's school yard, Kinkora Golf Course and the the Vedder River.

The company filed an application on Friday for National Energy Board (NEB) approval for the contract terms and fee structure paid by those companies who will use the pipeline.

Kinder Morgan Canada president Ian Anderson reiterated the application had nothing to do with proposed routing or construction of the project.

"That is a separate application that we expect to file in late 2013," he said in a press release.

Anderson said the company is in the early stages of the "comprehensive studies and engagement program" for the pipeline expansion project.

"There will be every opportunity for interested parties to express their opinions on the project," Anderson said in a media conference call Friday.

Local concern about the pipeline expansion has been growing for months. A Fraser Valley group called PIPE UP (Pro-Information, Pro-Environment Up with People) Network has been formed to fight the project.

One of the group's main concerns is that the pipeline currently ships diluted bitumen, which is more difficult to clean up when a spill occurs.

"Spills of diluted bitumen are not uncommon," said Michael Hale of Yarrow, spokesperson for PIPE UP.

He pointed to the 2010 pipeline spill of bitumen into Michigan's Kalamazoo River as a cautionary tale for Fraser Valley residents.

"After two years and $750 million, it's still not cleared up," he said.

On Wednesday, there was a full house at St. Timothy Anglican Church in Burnaby for that city's first public forum on the proposed pipeline expansion.

The panel featured representatives from Chevron, Kinder Morgan and the TsleilWaututh First Nation, with Mayor Derek Corrigan and Burnaby NDP MP Kennedy Stewart.

Stewart talked of the Conservative government's recent changes to the environmental approval process, mainly the new time constraints (NEB reviews will last two years maximum) and the limits on who can participate. Stewart also spoke of a phone survey he conducted on the pipe-line, where the majority of respondents in his riding were opposed to the expansion.

Ben West of the Wilderness Committee, an outspoken activist opposed to the expansion, asked Davies why Kinder Morgan had not yet released a map of the proposed route for the twin line. Davies replied that the route was still being decided, but that they would try to stick to the existing right-of-way where possible.