Cam Fortems – Kamloops This Week
An NDP government decision to get involved in the legal fight against Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion should worry companies developing resource projects in the province, said Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Peter Milobar.
The province’s NDP government has hired former judge Thomas Berger to provide legal advice to the government as it seeks intervener status in legal challenges against the federal government’s approval of the pipeline expansion, which would triple the capacity of the Alberta-to-B.C. line.
The NDP has opposed the expansion of the pipeline, which received the blessing of the province’s former Liberal government earlier this year.
“In the absence of them changing environmental rules, they’re going to throw up roadblocks under existing processes wherever they feel they can delay things,” Milobar said. “That’s got to be concerning to any kind of project that’s working its way through systems.”
Milobar also serves as the B.C. Liberal’s shadow critic on environmental issues. He said the decision creates confusion, as NDP ministers have pledged to follow existing processes on other resource projects in B.C., including the Ajax mine in Kamloops.
“Minister [of Mines Michelle] Mungall has made it very clear they’re going to rely on the science and the guidance of the report and look at all factors — something that Kinder Morgan’s already gone to. And yet they’re ready to pull out the stops for a project that’s already been through all that,” he said.
Trans Mountain has said construction on the project is set to begin in September, but Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement only three of eight environmental management plans that would allow work to begin have been accepted and it is unlikely those remaining will get approval before work was to start. The other five management plans have not been accepted because the company didn’t adequately consult First Nations, Heyman said.
“Until that has been completed, Kinder Morgan, with the exception of some private land and some clearing of right-of-way cannot put shovels in the ground,” he said.
Heyman said the province is also committed to further consultations with First Nations on the project, including the impact it has on Aboriginal rights and title. Several B.C. First Nations have filed lawsuits over the expansion. Milobar said the government shouldn’t be taking sides in ongoing legal disputes and noted the federal government felt First Nations were adequately consulted.
“Obviously the Squamish First Nation differs in that view and they’re totally within their rights to do that, and they’ve gone through the proper legal channels to have that reviewed,” he said. “But for the government to just unilaterally decide one side is right and the other side is wrong, I think is troubling.”
The province’s position won support from the Green party, which has signed an agreement giving its backing to the minority NDP government in the legislature.
“Government has a responsibility to base major decisions affecting the lives and livelihood of so many people on sound evidence, and in the case of Trans Mountain that standard was not met,’’ Green Leader Andrew Weaver said in a news release.
In a statement, Kinder Morgan president Ian Anderson said the company is taking the province’s comments seriously, but has already consulted with First Nations as required.
“We have undertaken thorough, extensive and meaningful consultations with Aboriginal Peoples, communities and individuals and remain dedicated to those efforts and relationships as we move forward with construction activities in September,” Anderson said.
– with files from the Canadian Press