Kinder Morgan has dropped a request to install more spawning deterrent mats along the route of its proposed Trans Mountain pipeline twinning project.
According to a news report in the company’s newsletter, lawyers representing the pipeline company have written the National Energy Board to withdraw the request.
READ MORE: Kinder Morgan appeals NEB ban on spawning deterrent mats
As reported recently in the Times, Kinder Morgan had included in its application to NEB the strategy of using plastic snow fencing to deter fish from spawning in locations where the new pipeline would cross creeks.
The application was approved and the fencing was laid in seven streams in the Blue River to Valemount area in mid-August. Fencing was laid in the bed of one stream in Alberta as well.
In September, NEB ordered the pipeline company to stop installing the deterrent mats because the federal regulator considered them to be construction activity, not pre-construction.
Construction could not begin because a number of conditions had not yet been met, the board said.
An energy strategist with Greenpeace Canada, Keith Stewart, commented that it was hard to believe that Kinder Morgan did not know or failed to check to see if its anti-spawning strategy was allowed.
Kinder Morgan requested NEB for permission to continue installing the mats, saying that the $7.4 billion project could be delayed for a year.
The application to continue mentioned four streams near Hope. The company planned eventually to place mats in 26 streams.
Since then, however, the pipeline company has dropped the request. The window for “safely and effectively” installing the mats has passed, Kinder Morgan said.
The pipeline company said it will re-assess the specified water-crossings and determine if they need to adjust their construction methodologies to meet commitments to minimize environmental impacts.
Kinder Morgan reiterated its intention to remove the spawning deterrent mats that are already installed at an appropriate time after spawning.
newsroom@clearwatertimes.com
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