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November 22, 2016
Organizers of a vigil opposing the planned Kinder Morgan pipeline in Western Canada said they hope Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal government gets their message that some Canadians don’t want more pipelines.
About 75 people are expected to attend a weather-shortened vigil between 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Springer Market Square.
Kinder Morgan Canada is proposing to build a $6.8 billion, 1,150 kilometre expansion to its Transmountain Pipeline from the Edmonton area to British Columbia’s Pacific coast.
“Trudeau and the Liberal government have talked a good talk about climate change but we are concerned if they go ahead and approve this Kinder Morgan expansion that this sort of gives a lie to all their talk about greener policies,” said Fred Faust, an organizer of the Kingston vigil.
“People, not just in B.C or Toronto, but all over including in cities like Kingston, don’t want to see the expansion of the tar sands or any new pipelines built. There is also the concern that indigenous peoples on the coast have not been consulted and may of them are opposed to this, as are the mayors of Vancouver and Burnaby.”
The federal government is to decide by Dec. 19 whether the pipeline expansion will go ahead.
Kinder Morgan has stated that the Transmountain Pipeline expansion would roughly triple its current capacity.
The project has also been described as being the federal government’s favourite of the five pipeline proposals being proposed.
Faust said there are already enough existing pipelines and railway capacity to transport oil from the oil sands to market.
A new pipeline would require a major investment in infrastructure that is meant to last for many years.
“If we are serious about getting off fossil fuels, you don’t do that by building infrastructure that is going to last for several decades,” he said.
Written by Elliot Ferguson, photos by Jonathon Reed
Originally published in The Whig-Standard
