bcbusiness.ca december 2014 BCBusiness 67
he says. "They're cloaked in what
is called the national interest, but
it's impossible for me to identify the
national interest as making money for
multinational oil companies."
Anderson, on the other hand,
thinks the decision will be anything
but a commercially based one with
addenda covering a few technical and
environmental concerns. "It includes
local impacts; it includes how respon-
sive a company is," he says. "It's not
just a pipeline story; it's the full story.
I don't think the public appreciates
the safety net that the panel provides
them." One thing he wonders about,
though, is whether the panel might put
a greater weight than in times past on
public opinion, and in particular the
very strong public opposition currently
evident in Burnaby. "It's a question I
ask myself every day," he says.
If the
NEB does rule in favour of
the expansion, there will be another
issue arising out of the current animus
between Kinder Morgan and the City
of Burnaby. Burnaby, after all, is the
site of its terminal, the most compli-
cated aspect of the project, not to
mention the proposed drill through
Burnaby Mountain, a significant engi-
neering challenge. And yet there has
been absolutely no contact between
Burnaby and Kinder Morgan. No
sharing of information, no technical
consultation—a situation that Anderson
says exists nowhere else on the line.
Corrigan doesn't apologize for this.
"Anything we did to work with them,
to help them select routes, would have
given them, in effect, a tool to use as
leverage in
NEB hearings, and they
would have no hesitation in doing that,"
he says. "If in fact approval is given,
then we're going to have to work to
minimize whatever damage we can."
Meanwhile, Anderson lists all the
things that should be happening now
but instead will be delayed until after
a decision: "To finalize routing deci-
sions. To understand what the impacts
of those are going to be. To understand
the timing of workforce presence,
the methods of construction and the
impact that they will have on traffic.
The discussion around seasonalities."
Under Corrigan—who was running
this fall for his fourth term as mayor—
Burnaby has been out to prove that
it's no longer the sleepy suburb it once
was. In 2016, if Anderson's Kinder
Morgan expansion receives a go-ahead,
it will be a lively place indeed.
■
" The location [for the tank farm] was very poorly
chosen and... now it is hanging like the sword of
Damocles over residential neighbourhoods
and schools"
—Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan
