Monday, May 6, 2024
ADVT 
National

Kinder Morgan to file court action against protesters blocking pipeline work

The Canadian Press , 31 Oct, 2014 11:42 AM
    VANCOUVER — Trans Mountain pipeline has filed two separate B.C. Supreme Court actions in an attempt to finish its survey work through a conservation area in Metro Vancouver.
     
    The subsidiary of energy giant Kinder Morgan is asking the court to issue an injunction preventing protesters from blocking its crews from doing work on the expansion project on Burnaby Mountain.
     
    The company is also asking for damages and costs in a civil lawsuit over what it claims is trespass, assault and intimidation by protesters who chased away workers on Wednesday.
     
    Court documents say the company's inability to conduct the field studies because of the protesters actions means its plan to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline will be delayed and cost both the firm and investors money.
     
    On Wednesday, angry protesters confronted Trans Mountain crews on Burnaby Mountain. One demonstrator even crawled under a survey crew's SUV and refused to leave.
     
    Trans Mountain is authorized by the National Energy Board to conduct the field work, and the company accuses protesters of trespassing at three separate work sites and verbally abusing work crews.
     
    "The protesters, including the defendants or some of them, physically obstructed Trans Mountain and its agents by blocking their access to the site, and intimidated Trans Mountain and its agents through physical confrontation, and yelling and screaming abusive words," court documents say.
     
    "An individual chained himself to a vehicle used by Trans Mountain and its agents and prevented them from safely withdrawing that equipment from the site."
     
    The company said it marked out work zones with signs, but some protesters pulled the signs out and damaged them.
     
    Other protesters erected tents and used vehicles to bar workers, making it clear that "if they attempted to perform the tasks for which they came to the site ... there would be a physical confrontation and that they would be physically prevented from doing so," the court documents state.
     
    At the end, the workers turned around and left.
     
    SFU English professor Stephen Collis, who is listed in the statement of claim as one of the defendants, was on Burnaby Mountain Wednesday speaking on behalf of a group calling themselves the Caretakers. He said he didn't witness the incidents described by Trans Mountain, but he finds some of the company's claims "absurd."
     
    "So this U.S.-based company can take away my Canadian constitutional rights? It's a public park," he said in a phone interview on Friday. "I'm a public person, I can make statements, I can be in public space, be in a public park, but now I've been told I can't do any of those things."
     
    Collis also said Burnaby Mountain is on municipal land, and it's not up to Trans Mountain to declare protesters were trespassing.
     
    The injunction application and civil lawsuit is the latest in a bitter battle over Kinder Morgan's plans to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline through Burnaby.
     
    If approved, the $5.4-billion dollar expansion plan would come close to tripling the capacity of the existing pipeline between Alberta and B.C. to about 900,000 barrels of crude a day.
     
    The National Energy Board granted the company access to Burnaby Mountain last week, saying the City of Burnaby can't block the survey work because it is needed for the board to make a decision on the expansion application.
     
    Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan has said he doesn't believe the federal regulator has the authority to consider constitutional questions concerning city bylaws.
     
    The city plans to appeal the ruling.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Today on the Hill: Income splitting a plus for voters, or a splitting headache?

    Today on the Hill: Income splitting a plus for voters, or a splitting headache?
    OTTAWA — Federal politicians will splitting hairs today over whether income splitting is a good idea.

    Today on the Hill: Income splitting a plus for voters, or a splitting headache?

    Why do victims of sexual assault stay silent? No easy answer, say experts

    Why do victims of sexual assault stay silent? No easy answer, say experts
    A simple question, but without a simple answer when it is posed to sexual assault victims.

    Why do victims of sexual assault stay silent? No easy answer, say experts

    Passenger Aboard Kelowna Bus Stabbed To Death By Man Who Fled

    Passenger Aboard Kelowna Bus Stabbed To Death By Man Who Fled
    KELOWNA, B.C. — Police in Kelowna, B.C., are investigating the stabbing death of a passenger aboard a bus before the suspect fled the scene.

    Passenger Aboard Kelowna Bus Stabbed To Death By Man Who Fled

    Newfoundland soccer field stabbing case adjourned for three weeks

    Newfoundland soccer field stabbing case adjourned for three weeks
    ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — A 19-year-old man charged in connection with the stabbing of a boy on a Newfoundland soccer field is due back in court Nov. 20.

    Newfoundland soccer field stabbing case adjourned for three weeks

    Armed man in Batman mask tried to hold up armoured vehicle: Halifax police

    Armed man in Batman mask tried to hold up armoured vehicle: Halifax police
    HALIFAX — Police say an armed man dressed as Batman tried to hold up an armoured vehicle as guards were making a delivery at a bank in the Halifax area.

    Armed man in Batman mask tried to hold up armoured vehicle: Halifax police

    Banks, credit card companies cutting rates charged to merchants, capping fees

    Banks, credit card companies cutting rates charged to merchants, capping fees
    OTTAWA — Canada's major banks and credit card companies have reached a deal with the federal government to cut the fees charged to merchants for credit transactions, sources familiar with the negotiations say.

    Banks, credit card companies cutting rates charged to merchants, capping fees