Nanaimo groups opposed to twinning of Kinder Morgan’s pipeline rally outside Beban Park Tuesday (Dec. 4).
The Mid Island chapter of the Council of Canadians is joining the Snuneymuxw First Nation, Save our Shores, the Sierra Club and Tanker Free B.C. for a rally outside the Kinder Morgan open house at Beban Park 5-8 p.m.
Kinder Morgan is planning on twinning the Trans Mountain oil pipeline and increasing oil tanker exports from the Port of Vancouver from one tanker a week to one tanker a day.
The Trans Mountain pipeline was originally built to bring light crude oil from Alberta to refineries in Vancouver for use predominantly by B.C. industry and residents (and to Washington for use there).
But in the last five years Kinder Morgan has been using the pipeline to export tar sands bitumen from the Port of Vancouver to Asia and elsewhere.
The purpose of the open house is to introduce the pipeline expansion proposal to the public and have project representatives on hand to answer questions.
The Council of Canadians is concerned with the consequences of a pipeline spill or tanker accident.
“We plan to be respectful and not disrupt the open house, but we want to show our opposition and share information about why we think this is a bad plan for the B.C. coast,” said Paul Manly of the Council of Canadians.