Kinder Morgan is drilling boreholes around the Westridge Marine Terminal – similar to the survey work that spurred mass protests on Burnaby Mountain last fall.
In a company notice distributed to residents and obtained by the NOW, Kinder Morgan states the work will continue until Feb. 29, and it involves drilling and testing samples to help plan the expansion of the dock. “There is a barge out in the water where there will be some equipment, and there will be a small crane,” said Lisa Clement, a media relations staffer for project. “It is for geo-tech work for expansion for Westridge.”
Kinder Morgan’s $6.8-billion plan to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline includes expanding the Westridge Marine Terminal, where tankers fill up with crude.
Burnaby resident Mia Nissen visited the area, saw the crane and is upset about the work.
“It looks like they are drilling in the Salish Sea without consent. We hope it’s not the case, because they don’t have consent from First Nations, Burnaby, the city of Vancouver doesn’t want them here, and the province of B.C just came out against the pipeline,” she said. “People are tired of industry running roughshod through First Nations territory without consent. They have a complete disregard for indigenous sovereignty, for the environment and for climate change disaster.”
Nissen was one of five people named in a multimillion-dollar civil suit the company filed in order to secure an injunction against protesters last fall. People violated the injunction while protesting the mountain survey work, and more than 100 were arrested.
Kinder Morgan’s notice stated the work will run up to seven days a week and into the night on most days, and that the company would get approvals from Port Metro Vancouver. The terminal falls within the traditional territory of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, which is opposed to the pipeline expansion.
