Let's hypothetically "transfer" the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion proposal to build a new 61-centimetre-diameter crude oil pipeline through the urban density of Burnaby to Mountain View County.
In spite of misleading assertions, this is not the twinning of the existing pipeline, but a new right-of-way through Burnaby.
The construction for this pipeline, if built in Olds, would run under Highway 27 and 50th Street. It would cross the Olds College campus creating a permanent 10-metre-wide right-of-way, and the wetlands and botanic gardens, requiring a 25-metre-wide construction easement through the wetlands.
It would go to a storage tank farm adjacent to the college student residences, the aquatic centre, the arena and the high school.
What would the citizens of Olds and Mountain View County expect their municipal councils to do when they asked to approve the necessary town and county permits for the pipeline?
Will the National Energy Board protect the interests of the citizens including ordering the pipeline to abide by local bylaws?
What would we do if the prime minister breaks a promise to use federal authority over the pipeline to protect us?
Let's duplicate a 2007 incident -- one of the 21 oil spills that have occurred on the pipeline.
It would take place on 50th Street when a backhoe on a road repair crew accidentally strikes the pipeline and crude oil sprays 10 metres into the air causing millions of dollars in damages to adjacent homes and properties, that is exacerbated when pipeline employees shut off the wrong valve to stop the spraying oil and it continues until the mistake is rectified.
Would this spill be in the "national interest" because the Alberta oil in the pipeline will be exported bringing economic benefits?
Derek Corrigan, the mayor of Burnaby, a lawyer and former British Columbia Transit chairman, narrates a video released Jan. 18 that makes the case for why the City of Burnaby opposes Kinder Morgan's proposed pipeline route. The video is viewable at the City of Burnaby website, www.burnaby.ca. Follow the link in the news release.
Corrigan says, "There has never been an adequate discussion about what the real interests of Canada are and we've never had an adequate discussion about what the real interests of British Columbia are."
He says there is "no guiding mind" acting in the public and no national fossil fuel to provide a context for decisions like the one on the Kinder Morgan expansion.
"Who is controlling the choices that are being made?" Corrigan asks.
"Are we actually as a democracy listening to our citizens and their interests or are we just simply reacting to the interests of multi-national corporations exploiting resources in our country? People in my community have come to the conclusion that it is the later."
Kinder Morgan's botched relationship with Burnaby has given a social licence to extremist pipeline opponents to attack the alleged negative environmental and economic impacts of expansion.
Two more questions. Can we have fairness, justice and pipelines? And can pipeline executives treat others as they want to be treated and also make a profit?
Frank Dabbs is a veteran political and business journalist and author.
"What would the citizens of Olds and Mountain View County expect their municipal councils to do when they asked to approve the necessary town and county permits for the pipeline?"
