The Squamish Nation is challenging the National Energy Board’s recommendation to approve Kinder Morgan’s expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
Chief Ian Campbell, on behalf of the Squamish Nation, filed an application to the Federal Court of Appeals yesterday to seek a judicial review of the NEB’s recommendation after the nation’s legal team reviewed the report that was made public last month.
“The Squamish Nation is stunned that the NEB has recommended that the Kinder Morgan expansion project be approved by the federal government – without first properly consulting the Squamish Nation on the impacts of the project on its aboriginal rights and title. Nor assessing the project through a real environmental assessment process,” said Campbell in a news release.
He would like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to revamp the National Energy Board process and not approve the project.
Kinder Morgan’s proposed $6.8 billion project would almost triple the Trans Mountain pipeline’s current capacity to carry oil from Alberta to a terminal in Burnaby, to 890,000 barrels a day from 300,000, and lead to a nearly seven-fold increase in tanker traffic in the Burrard Inlet.
“The Squamish Nation categorically rejects the NEB report. We simply cannot – will not – approve it,” Campbell said, adding further studies need to be completed on the environmental effects of the proposed expansion.
