Pipeline operator Kinder Morgan had the RCMP arrest 34 protesters occupying one of its work sites in a public conservation area popular with hikers and picnickers near Vancouver B.C. Where Kinder Morgan intends to build a new pipeline for Alberta Tar Sands bitumen to reach an export terminal on Vancouver's harbor.
Kinder Morgan resumes work on Canadian pipeline expansion
Kinder Morgan said it was able to move its equipment onto Burnaby Mountain overnight and that crews would be working 24 hours a day for the next 10 to 12 days to complete drilling work required by regulators.
The company, which hopes to nearly triple the capacity of the existing 300,000 barrel-per-day pipeline, plans to bore two holes deep into the mountain to test if it can run the expanded line under the conservation site, which is a popular hiking and picnic area for locals.
A group of protesters, who call themselves the caretakers of the mountain, had for weeks been occupying the more remote of the two work sites. On Thursday, Canadian police began enforcing a court order for their removal, arresting 26 people.
On Friday, eight more people were arrested, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a statement, while three aboriginal protesters remain inside the injunction zone. Police are in talks to move them to a legal protest area nearby.
Kinder Morgan, meanwhile, said it was setting up fencing and lights in preparation for starting drilling work.
Kinder Morgan's proposed expansion of its TransMountain pipeline is unpopular in British Columbia and VERY unpopular in Metro Vancouver.
Kinder Morgan starts drilling on Burnaby Mountain
By Darcy Wintonyk
"I'm really sad. I've been fighting tears all morning," said Lynne Quarmby, an SFU scientist who is one of six citizens that Kinder Morgan has filed a multi-million dollar civil suit against.
"The injustice of it all. I know police are doing what they need to do. It's just the whole process is unjust."
"These are really good people who are really the leaders of our society...They're leading the way for the society we need to go, and they're being arrested," she said.
David Suzuki's grandson and Beyond Boarding co-founder Tamo Campos is said to be among those arrested.
Groups opposing the project staged a press conference Friday morning to voice their concerns about the arrests, a lack of communication with Mounties and a project that would see increased oil tanker traffic on the B.C. coast.
Squamish Nation Chief Ian Campbell said Burnaby Mountain has sustained aboriginal people for thousands of years, and First Nations people will continue to oppose the project for the sake of future generations.
“The Squamish Nation does not consent to Kinder Morgan’s application for the willful destruction of this part of our territory,” Campbell told reporters.
“We will not allow this behavior to continue in our territories.”
Kinder Morgan doesn't care how unpopular it is or how destructive it is. And neither does Canada's Conservative led Federal Government which is effectively owned by dirty energy interests. Naturally the RCMP is protecting the prerogatives of this Texas based dirty energy corporation with its big money against its popular opposition.
How much money?
Kinder Morgan investors approve $44 billion merger
That has meant large gains for Kinder Morgan’s investors, the largest of whom is Chairman and CEO Richard Kinder himself. Kinder owned about 23.6 percent of the common equity of Kinder Morgan Inc., or about 243 million shares.
Canada's Trans Mountain Tar Sands Pipeline Expansion is "Keystone XL 2.0"
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