City of Vancouver
News Release
June 20, 2016
City launches judicial review of Kinder Morgan’s pipeline expansion
The City of Vancouver has filed with the Federal Court of Appeal an application for a judicial review of the National Energy Board’s (NEB) decision to conditionally recommend Kinder Morgan’s pipeline expansion project (the “Project”), citing that it is both invalid and unlawful. Throughout the NEB review process, the City and many other intervenors have raised significant concerns about its flawed process which excluded any opportunities for oral cross-examination of experts and evidence, provided inadequate information sharing and failed to properly consult affected communities along the pipeline and tanker route.
“An expanded Kinder Morgan pipeline is not in Vancouver or Canada’s economic or environmental interest,” says Mayor Gregor Robertson. “The National Energy Board failed to properly and thoroughly consult local communities on the pipeline and tanker route, ignoring key pieces of scientific evidence showing the potential for real and catastrophic damage to local waters in the event of an oil spill, and the impact of an expanded pipeline on greenhouse gas emissions both locally and abroad. Vancouver still has significant concerns about Kinder Morgan’s expansion and we’ve concluded it’s simply not worth the risk to our environment or economy.”
In the application, the City outlines that the NEB failed to comply with the requirements of the NEB Act by ignoring key pieces of evidence submitted by the City as part of the process which supported the City’s position that: