VANCOUVER — A major oil spill caused by Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion could cost Vancouver's economy up to $1.2 billion, according to a new report released by the city.
The report, conducted by the University of B.C.'s Fisheries Economics Research Unit, examines the potential economic costs of a 16 million litre spill in Burrard Inlet.
The City of Vancouver is publishing a series of reports critical of the expansion leading up to its submission of evidence next week to the National Energy Board, which is reviewing the proposed expansion.
The report says ocean-dependent industries directly employ 4 per cent of the city's population and contribute more than $3 billion in gross domestic product to Vancouver's economy every year.
Researchers analysed two spill scenarios in Burrard Inlet in May and in October, and found the economy would likely lose twice as much money in spring during peak tourist season.
Kinder Morgan hopes to triple its capacity to carry 890,000 barrels of petroleum a day by adding a second pipeline carrying between Alberta to Burnaby, B.C., prompting as much as a seven-fold increase in tanker traffic in Burrard Inlet.
