RIDERS FOR RYDERS HIT THE ROAD
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ENVIRONMENTALISM FOR DUMMIES
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RESETTING THE GREEN BAR
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WEDNESDAY
APRIL 18 2012
www.burnabynewsleader.com
Derek Milloy is honouring his wife by participating in the MS Walk, while the MS Society is honouring him. See Page A2
Sorry Adrian: Bloy Tom Fletcher Black Press
MARIO BARTEL/BLACK PRESS FILE
Demonstrators march towards the Kinder Morgan Westridge Terminal in Burnaby in August 2011, to protest the company’s plans to expand its Alberta-B.C. pipeline.
Will B.C. be Alberta’s oil superport? Kinder Morgan Canada will seek to twin its Trans Mountain Pipeline between northern Alberta and Burnaby. The twinning would mean a huge increase in the amount of crude that transits the pipeline, and in the number of oil tankers passing through local waters each year. This third instalment of a three-part Black Press series looks at the politics of the pipeline, and possible alternatives.
Crude politics and pressures behind the pipelines Jeff Nagel Black Press
Hundreds more oil tankers may soon ply B.C. waters to carry crude oil from Alberta’s oil sands to Asia via one of two very different routes. Most public focus so far has been on Enbridge’s controversial Northern Gateway project, which would run a new pipeline across northern B.C. to Kitimat. But several industry watchers rate
golfburnaby.net
that project — beset by opposition from environmental groups, northern communities and First Nations – as a long shot. Much more likely to proceed, they say, is Kinder Morgan’s potential expansion of its Trans Mountain pipeline, which could mean a more than six-fold increase in the amount of oil now being exported by tankers out through Burrard Inlet. The politicking will be intense to persuade B.C. to accept at least Kinder Morgan’s proposal, if not both projects, to satisfy national strategic
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interests, according to SFU public policy professor Doug McArthur. “The federal government is increasingly committing itself to a high level of expansion of the oil sands and making it almost the main economic issue in the country,” he said. “I think B.C. will be under tremendous pressure from the federal government.” The Enbridge pipeline faces huge hurdles. It is a new route across sensitive ecosystems, mountainous terrain and salmon-bearing rivers, all in the traditional territory of aboriginal bands that are staunchly against the project. Please see B.C. SAYING ‘NO’, A3
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Burnaby-Lougheed MLA Harry Bloy apologized Monday after questioning NDP leader Adrian Dix’s honesty during a raucous debate over BC Hydro’s smart meters. Bloy stood to defend the program after NDP MLAs raised claims of health concerns and unexpected spikes in electricity bills. Bloy Àrst pointed to NDP energy critic John Horgan’s initial enthusiasm for digital power meters, but then questioned whether Dix would “lie and cheat and steal money.” Deputy speaker Linda Reid called on Bloy to withdraw the comments, which are considered unparliamentary language. Bloy did so, but didn’t apologize until asked about the incident by reporters. “I do apologize,” Bloy said. “I did withdraw the remarks unequivocally.” Bloy refused to comment on his reference in the legislative chamber to former MP Svend Robinson’s theft of an engagement ring in 2004, and Bloy’s question about whether Dix did something similar.