Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) Concerns
Houston-based Kinder Morgan (formerly Enron Liquid Pipelines LLP) is one of the largest fossil fuel companies in the world. The company intended to build a new export pipeline for a dangerous kind of oil called diluted bitumen that would be carved out along the route of the Trans Mountain Pipeline which they bought in 2005. When the company was about to walk away from this dangerous project the Government of Canada stepped in and purchased it in 2018.
This new pipeline would extend approximately 1100 km between Edmonton, Alberta, and the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby on the south shore of the Burrard Inlet in the Vancouver harbour. The project would also require building pumping stations, holding tankers and other infrastructure along the pipeline route and build a new berth for the Westridge marine Terminal on the Burrard Inlet.
The proposed Trans Mountain tanker and pipeline project is a risk too great to accept.
The proposed pipeline would increase the amount of dangerous crude oil traveling through British Columbia water more than seven times: from approximately 60 tankers a year to over 400!
It’s worth noting that the crude oil that the pipeline will carry is for export and will not be refined in Canada. The pipeline project is not intended to meet the energy needs of the Lower Mainland or British Columbia.
We have many concerns about the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline, as it would have serious and far-reaching environmental, economic, and health repercussions for people in British Columbia.
Below you can find a list of questions and answers that lay out some of our concerns. There is just too much at stake to allow this project to proceed.
It’s time to stand together against this proposal! Please feel free to contact us directly with any further questions or comments.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Oil Spills
- How likely is an oil spill if the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline goes ahead?
- What is Diluted Bitumen and is it More Dangerous than Conventional Oil?
Tanker Traffic in Burrard Inlet
- If the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline was built, how much would tanker traffic increase?
- What would be the physical impact of an oil spill in Burrard Inlet?
The Pipeline Route
- How would landowners along the pipeline route be affected?
- Would the proposed Trans Mountain risk British Columbia drinking water?
Wildlife
- How would an oil spill affect fish, birds and other wildlife?
- How would the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline and tankers impact Orcas?
Economics
- Is there an economic need for the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline?
- Is there a market for the products to be shipped on the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline?
- Does BC rely on the jobs created through the proposed Trans Moutain pipeline?
- What would be the economic cost of an oil spill?
- What would be the net economic impact of the proposed Trans Moutain pipeline?
- Why did the NEB approve the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline if its economic impact is negative?