Government has until Dec. 19 to decide on Canadian pipeline expansion
Thousands of protesters march through Vancouver, Canada on November 19, 2016 to fight against a proposed C$6.8 billion ($5 billion USD) expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline.
The project, fiercely opposed by many environmentalists and aboriginal groups, calls for the construction of a second pipeline alongside its existing one, more than doubling their output and increasing crude oil tanker traffic through the Port of Vancouver.
The Canadian government has until December 19 to decide whether to allow the expansion, although an announcement is expected to come earlier than that.
The 715 mile (1,150 km) Trans Mountain line is the only pipeline running from Alberta’s vast oil sands to Canada’s Pacific coast.
The proposed expansion has received strong support from oil producers keen to export their crude to Asian markets, but has also garnered strong opposition from Canada’s aboriginal groups, like the Tseil-Waututh. The band is located on the shores of Burrard Inlet, across from the terminus of the pipeline, and fear a seven-fold increase in oil tanker traffic will inevitably lead to a spill.
