The City of Burnaby didn’t hold back when it grilled Kinder Morgan Canada this week on its proposed pipeline route through the municipality.
Greg McDade, a lawyer with the city, spent all day Tuesday cross-examining the Texas-based company as part of the National Energy Board’s oral hearings into the expansion that would twin the existing pipeline. (The hearings are regulated by the NEB Act and allow the board to hear from “adversely affected” landowners, like Burnaby, who have issues with Trans Mountain’s pipeline route.)
“It’s not usual to take a pipeline through the heart of a municipality,” McDade said, noting the Burnaby segment is in an entirely new corridor.
“Burnaby is objected to 70 parcels out of a total 74. I suggest you targeted city lands that were open, in your opinion, for the taking,” he said to Michael Davies, Kinder Morgan Canada’s vice-president of operations.
Davies denied the claim and referred McDade to the company’s routing criteria. He said the company, where possible, tried to have the route parallel existing infrastructure (highways and roads) and utility lines.
But McDade argued that much of the route goes through greenspace, including the Brunette River Conservation Area.
“Did you know they were lands targeted by the City of Burnaby for conservation?” asked McDade.
“Burnaby’s intent to include that land in a conservation area was not clear to us in the routing process,” answered Davies. “The mapping and Burnaby’s evidence is a bit conflicting.”
The city’s lawyer pointed to Burnaby’s 20-year-old official community plan (OCP).
“Surely, Trans Mountain, before building a pipeline through the city, looked through the community plan,” said McDade, noting the Brunette Conservation Area.
“I can confirm we did consider the OCP,” Davies said after consulting with his panel.
“So what does that mean? You looked at it and ignored it?” McDade charged.
The exchange between the pair went on all morning, with Davies arguing Trans Mountain looked for opportunities to follow existing infrastructure, including in conservation areas. But McDade asserted that that goes against the company’s routing criteria.
“Isn’t your explicit routing criteria to avoid environmentally sensitive areas?” asked the lawyer.
When asked during a media scrum if there’s an acceptable route Burnaby would approve of, McDade said, “There are better routes. There are none that are acceptable.”
The City of Burnaby will be in front of the board again tomorrow (Jan. 24) and Thursday, and will be cross-examined by Kinder Morgan.
The hearings wrap up on Jan. 31, and a second round of meetings is scheduled for March.
NEB spokesperson James Stevenson said a decision is usually made two to three months after the hearings.
Follow Tereza Verenca on Twitter for live updates from the NEB hearings this week.
