With its Trans Mountain Expansion Project before the National Energy Board, energy company Kinder Morgan held an open house at the Jasper Activity Centre March 27.
The event was an opportunity for Jasper residents to find out more information about the pipeline expansion project, directly from Kinder Morgan representatives.
The company’s Trans Mountain Pipeline has been in operation since 1953, and stretches from Strathcona County, near Edmonton, to Burnaby, B.C. It runs directly through Jasper National Park.
Last December, Kinder Morgan, the company that operates the pipeline, submitted an application to twin its entire 1,150 km length. The proposed expansion would see about 980 km of new pipeline built. Jasper’s line was twinned in 2008, so there would be minimal construction in the park, but the project would mean reactivating 150 kilometres of 60-year-old pipeline.
At the March 27 information session, the Activity Centre’s multi-purpose hall was decked out with a promotional Kinder Morgan video, detailed maps following the pipeline’s route through Jasper National Park, and slick presentation boards displaying basic information about the expansion project.
Sporting green fleece sweaters and wandering the room were also half a dozen Kinder Morgan representatives, who outnumbered open house attendees the entire night.
About 10 people showed up over the course of the two-hour open house, including many of Jasper’s most vocal opponents to the project.
Speaking forcefully, and rattling off rapid-fire questions, Art Jackson grilled Kinder Morgan engineer Adam Lind on the thickness of the pipe, the company’s safety testing and a host of other issues. He also said he felt the 2008 Anchor Loop expansion was pushed through without enough community consultation.
“We didn’t even know you were ripping it apart eight years ago, man—Harper came in and rubber stamped it, and nobody said a word to people who lived here.”
Shaking her head as she filled out a Kinder Morgan questionnaire, Monika Schaefer expressed disappointment, saying she felt like the whole thing was an empty show of concern.
“I’m a bit cynical about these things, this is just a PR exercise,” she said of the open house.
And while some were angry or resigned, others showed up simply to get more information.
Most questions were focused on the age of the pipeline slated for reactivation, which Lind said he is confident is up to the task.
He explained Kinder Morgan will test the old pipe extensively before it’s reopened, and that the old line will transport primarily refined and conventional crude oil.
“This pipeline is 61 years old, but it was operating five years ago,” with essentially the same load that it would transport if Kinder Morgan’s application is approved, he said.
While less than a dozen people turned up to the open house, Kinder Morgan representatives said some of the open houses they’ve held have seen even fewer people attend. Others have had standing room only.
Kinder Morgan has been holding open houses in communities along the length of its pipeline, ahead of the public hearing the National Energy Board will hold on the expansion application in the coming months.
Right now, Kinder Morgan is waiting for the NEB to declare its application complete. Once it does, the NEB will issue a document called a hearing order that will lay out a hearing schedule that corresponds to the federal government’s legislated 15-month review and decision timeframe.
Trevor Nichols
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