{"id":40604,"date":"2021-02-20T07:55:43","date_gmt":"2021-02-20T12:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=40604"},"modified":"2021-02-20T08:07:58","modified_gmt":"2021-02-20T13:07:58","slug":"report-from-burnaby-pipeline-1308-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/report-from-burnaby-pipeline-1308-trees\/","title":{"rendered":"Report from Burnaby Pipeline: 1308 trees"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Roy L Hales<\/p>\n

Trans Mountain<\/a> (Tmx) plans to cut down another 1,308 trees in preparation for its proposed pipeline expansion through Burnaby.<\/p>\n

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1308 Trees in Burnaby<\/h2>\n

On December 7, 2020, the energy company gave the city of Burnaby four days<\/a>\u00a0to approve the necessary permits.<\/p>\n

Then Trans Mountain applied directly to the Canada Energy Regulator<\/a>, which found that TMX is not beholden to the city bylaw stating they would need a permit.<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/a>

Peter McCartney of the Wilderness Committee - submitted by himself<\/p><\/div>\n

According to\u00a0Peter McCartney<\/a>, of the\u00a0Wilderness Committee<\/a>, \u201cA big chunk of the trees are along two creeks in Burnaby, just south of Highway #1. There\u2019s a fellow who\u2019s been up in a tree for two months now and was served an injunction Saturday. I talked to him last night. He seems pretty confident that they\u2019re going to move in to remove him today. I was out at the site yesterday, and there are workers everywhere. There are security everywhere. There is police. They already cut down a couple of trees to set up a work site. The workers did tell me they want to start cutting trees as soon a s possible. I\u2019m heading out there shortly to see what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"1308<\/a>

2021 map showing Trans Mountain Pipeline route through Brunette River and Stoney Creek Areas - courtesy Wilderness Committee<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The oil spills<\/h2>\n

The pipeline company has a long history of problems in Burnaby.<\/p>\n

In 2007, and again in 2009, there were spills involving 250,000 and 200,000 litres of oil, respectively.<\/p>\n

Michael Lowry, communications Manager for the company that cleaned up the 2007 spill, told Cortes Currents<\/a>\u00a0that they recovered 90% of the oil and most of the residue evaporated.<\/p>\n

One of the affected homeowners told Burnabynow<\/a>\u00a0that she was satisfied with the clean-up, but it took 30 months to get her property back to its original state.<\/p>\n

A study commissioned by Kinder Morgan stated that, five years after the spill, \u201crecovery endpoints\u201d for water, intertidal sediment, crabs, subtitle sediment and fucus (brown algae) have been met. But\u00a0\u201cthere are\u00a0residual levels of contamination in mussels that have not yet met the agreed upon endpoint levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"History

From the City of Vancouver's Twitter feed, May 16, 2016<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

There have been a number of incidents along the pipeline route since the leaflet above was published, including a 190,000 litre spill in Abbotsford last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Burnaby\u2019s opposition to the pipeline<\/h2>\n

Shortly after Kinder Morgan filed an application for the proposed pipeline expansion, in December 2013,\u00a0Burnaby\u2019s lawyer, Greg McDade, described<\/a>\u00a0the impending National Energy Board hearing as a \u2018paper exercise.\u2019 They would be allowed to submit written questions, but could not question Trans Mountain directly.<\/p>\n

The City of Burnaby would subsequently report<\/a>\u00a0that many of its questions either were not answered, or it was given \u201cnon-responsive general statements or refer to earlier answers to other questions which do not respond to the question asked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polls showed 70% of the population supported the City<\/a> in its battle with Kinder Morgan. (Mayor Dereck Corrigan was reelected\u00a0by about the same margin.)<\/p>\n

In 2014, the NEB gave Trans Mountain permission to override Burnaby\u2019s bylaws and drill test holes in the\u00a0Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area<\/a>. At least 127 people were arrested during the subsequent protests.<\/p>\n

There were further protests and arrests in 2018.<\/p>\n

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\"map

2018 map showing the pipeline route through the Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area to Westridge terminal \u2013 courtesy the Wilderness Committee<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion began in late 2019.<\/p>\n

Last summer, public health physician\u00a0Dr. Tim Takaro settled onto a tree-top platform<\/a>\u00a0to protect a riparian zone near the Brunette River.<\/p>\n

Trans Mountain demolished the protest site in December<\/a>\u00a02020, explaining \u201cTo ensure safe construction, Trans Mountain needed to move into the Brunette River area to begin site preparation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Takaro returned to the treetops and is the unnamed individual that Peter McCartney states has been up in a tree for the last two months and was served an injunction on February 13th, 2021.<\/p>\n

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\"Westridge<\/a>

Screenshot of Westridge Terminal, in Burnaby, from Trans Mountain\u2019s 2018 injunction<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Links of interest<\/h2>\n