The pipeline expansion project has been facing regulatory hurdles caused by relentless opposition from locals and environmentalists.
Last month, Kinder Morgan was given the green signal from the National Energy Board (NEB) to begin work on the pipeline project in the city of Burnaby in British Columbia despite strong objections from the city’s bigwigs including its Mayor.
The NEB ruled that Kinder Morgan is exempt from two sections of Burnaby’s bylaws according to which it is required to get preliminary plan approvals and permits for tree-cutting.
According to Kinder Morgan, the objective of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project is to boost the capacity of the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline system by nearly three times from the current production of 300,000 barrels of oil per day.
The original Trans Mountain Pipeline system was built in 1953 and was laid between Edmonton and Burnaby in Alberta and British Columbia provinces respectively.
Its expansion project will see addition of about 980km of new pipeline and reactivation of 193km of existing pipeline.
Kinder Morgan will build new facilities to support the expanded pipeline. These include 12 new pump stations along with 19 new tanks that will be added to existing storage terminals.
In late August 2017, the company got an approval from NEB to expand the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby as part of the pipeline expansion project. The midstream company will expand the dock of the terminal to load three tankers, while adding more delivery lines to connect to its other terminal in Burnaby.
