B.C. Premier Christy Clark announced on Wednesday that all of the conditions her province was looking for in regards to Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline have been satisfied and the project will move ahead.
The $6.8B expansion will twin the pipeline already in place between Edmonton and Burnaby, tripling Kinder Morgan’s oil capacity.
As part of the approval, Kinder Morgan has agreed to provide up to a billion dollars in funding for future environmental protection projects.
Clark was looking for five conditions before she would green light the project.
She was looking for:
- a successful completion of the environmental review process
- establishment of oil spill response systems for B.C.’s coastline
- setting up practices to help prevent land oil spills
- legal requirements to ensure aboriginal and treaty rights are addressed
- assurances that B.C. receives its fair share of the fiscal and economic benefits of the project
Premier Rachel Notley says ongoing negotiations between Ottawa, the provinces and the company all led to the approval.
“I’d like to welcome this news from our neighbours and I thank Justin Trudeau and the federal government for the work they have done to make sure this project is safe and that the conditions B.C. had set out were met.”
But the increased approval doesn’t mean that everyone is happy with the idea.
A number of environmental and First Nations groups as well as a number of B.C. mayors say they’re against the project.
John Horgan, leader of B.C.’s Official Opposition, says that he will do all he can to stop the project.
If Kinder Morgan clears all the remaining regulatory hurdles, the pipeline could be up and running by 2019.
