NDP leader Adrian Dix has indicated he won鈥檛 support the proposed expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby.
Announcing his environment policy in Kamloops Monday, Dix stuck with his long-standing position that Kinder Morgan Canada must formally apply to twin its 60-year-old pipeline before he offers an opinion on it. But he added that he would not support a 鈥渇ive- or six-fold鈥� increase in oil tanker traffic from the company鈥檚 Westridge Marine Terminal shipping facility in Burnaby.
Vancouver should not become a 鈥渕ajor export oil port,鈥� Dix said.
Kinder Morgan is in the preliminary stages of applying for permits to nearly triple the capacity of its pipeline to about 850,000 barrels a day of crude oil. A company spokesman said last year that would mean more than 300 tankers a year traveling Burrard Inlet.
That would be a steep increase over the current traffic. Increased export demand for Alberta oil sands crude brought a high of 69 tankers to Burnaby in 2010, but just 32 tankers were loaded in 2011.
The Kinder Morgan pipeline crosses through North 91原创, north of Highway 1, mostly in rural areas, but it also runs through a heavily-urbanized portion of Walnut Grove.
The NDP has opposed the competing Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline proposal, which would carry Alberta oil sands crude to an export terminal at Kitimat.
The BC Liberals have demanded five conditions for any expansion of heavy oil pipelines across B.C., including 鈥渨orld class鈥� land and marine spill response capacity and a 鈥渇air share鈥� of economic benefits.
- with files from Frank Bucholtz
