2014 brought months of protests and direct action against the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline when the company decided to attempt to do borehole test drilling on Burnaby Mountain. Well it’s a new year, and with it comes yet another people vs. the pipeline confrontation for Kinder Morgan!
For the last three days, concerned community members have been protesting Kinder Morgan contractors who are attempting yet again to do borehole pipeline test-drilling for their dirty tar sands pipeline — this time in the Coquitlam and New Westminster area. The protesters were successful in blocking traffic and also turning away a water truck needed for the drilling, and have been directly confronting the Kinder Morgan contractors and keeping watch on the site — a fenced area near the south ramp of the Brunette Highway Interchange. The site where the test drilling is taking place is a few dozen metres from the Coho Salmon bearing Brunette River.
Since the high profile confrontations on Burnaby Mountain that resulted in over 100 people being arrested in November 2014, Kinder Morgan has been continuing to do fieldwork and test-drilling along the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline route to gather data. And concerned citizens have been continuing to confront them wherever possible.
Earlier in February, the Kwantlen First Nation was surprised to learn that Kinder Morgan had been doing test drilling on their traditional territory in the Langley Area. Over 70 people came out to protest Kinder Morgan’s test drilling on February 5, including the Kwantlen chief and band councilors. The band only found out about the drilling through social media and from a salmon conservation group that contacted them to give them the heads up — Kinder Morgan did not let them know.
In January, Kinder Morgan stirred up more controversy when the NEB complied with KM’s request to refuse to disclose its emergency spill plans to the B.C. government and the public. The B.C. government, as well as several Metro Vancouver municipalities and First Nations had argued that more information was needed from Kinder Morgan on how it would respond in the event of a spill. Though Kinder Morgan has claimed that it does not want to release the details of its spill response plan for “security reasons,” its refusal to share plans that are so critical to public safety and environmental protection have left many outraged and skeptical that Kinder Morgan even has sufficient spill response plans.
Over the next few months, Kinder Morgan will be attempting to complete its test drilling and fieldwork throughout its pipeline route! Come out and support the courageous activists who are standing in the path of this dirty pipeline. For more information and to stay updated on ways you can support these actions, click here.
For more information on the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline, click here.
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