WORK HAS BEGUN – WORK IS UNDERWAY ON THE TRANS MOUNTAIN PIPELINE

Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion will see the invest of millions of dollars to dozens of groups, organizations, municipal governments, and First Nations communities – including here in Kamloops.  And according to Kinder Morgan, there are many ways they plan to bring direct benefits to the Kamloops, and Thompson Nicola, area.

Thousand and thousands of metres of pipe, needed for the Trans Mountain
pipeline expansion, has been sitting stored in Kamloops for months

In requesting information from Kinder Morgan’s media Department, on how Kamloops will be impacted, an updated version of an article from last year was sent to me.

“We will pay approximately $2.9 million in annual property taxes to the City of Kamloops for the expanded line. There will be local economic activity generated by construction of the pipeline – business for hotels, restaurants, local suppliers and contractors, and additional spending by workers in the area.  The construction workforce is forecast to spend in communities along the route approximately $480 million on accommodations, meals and other expenditures.”

For the Kamloops area, the Expansion Project also means new short- and-long-term job and training opportunities for job seekers -- Aboriginal, local and regional people. The estimated peak workforce for Kamloops will be 550 workers.

In fact, according to Conference Board of Canada estimates, “… the Trans Mountain Pipeline Project will create the equivalent of 15,000 construction jobs and the equivalent of 37,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs per year of operations. Of that, British Columbia’s share is 189,000 person-years including 36,000 during Project development and 39,000 during operations.

But back to the Kamloops Thompson Nicola region.  The Community Benefit Agreement signed by Kinder Morgan, will see $700,000 with the City of Kamloops, plus Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD) will see an additional $845,000 invested for the communities impacted by construction or operation.

In addition to monies from Community Benefit Agreements, Kinder Morgan stated, “A contribution of half a million dollars ($500,000) to Thompson Rivers University (TRU) will help fund awards for students in Trades, Social Work and Applied Research programs, and the Environmental Science graduate program. The annual gift helps meet the growing need for education in BC’s Interior.”

“We believe today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders,” said Ian Anderson, President of Kinder Morgan Canada. “We are proud to support education and training programs that promote the academic interest in Trades, Environmental Stewardship, Social Work and Research, providing more opportunity for students to study in BC’s Interior.”

As to, WORK HAS BEGUN – WORK IS UNDERWAY ON THE TRANS MOUNTAIN PIPELINE

Trans Mountain has filed a six-month outlook summary schedule for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, with the National Energy Board (NEB), outlining construction activities planned for the remainder of this year.  Those plans start with approximately 290 km of pipeline between Edmonton and Jasper National Park. This part of the project will include surveying, staking and flagging the right-of-way, measures to protect the environment such as the relocation of any rare plants, and wildlife surveys.

For the North Thompson Region, in BC, work will begin next month (September) and continue through November.  This will be for 120 km of the pipeline route between Mount Robson Provincial Park and Blue River … along with 155 km of the route between Blue River and the pump station for Trans Mountain located at Darfield, just North of Kamloops. This work will again be for surveying, relocation of rare plants, wildlife surveys and more.

According to Kinder Morgan, “Additional construction is planned in the Lower Mainland of BC and the work at Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, that has been underway since September 2017, will continue.”

What does this project mean in the big picture?  According to Trans Mountain, “This Project means approximately $46.7 billion will find its way into the Canadian economy in the form of taxes and royalties, in addition to property tax payments in excess of $1 billion dollars for local governments along the entire pipeline route over 20 years.”

Meantime, according to CFJC Today, the protest front continues:

The fight by some indigenous groups to stop the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion goes to Mount Robson … the Tiny House Warriors and the Secwepemc Women Warrior Society has plans to build ten tiny houses in the path of the pipeline expansion. While many Secwepemc Nations have reached agreement with Kinder Morgan to allow the pipeline expansion to proceed, the Warriors Society is a group who remain opposed.

Hopefully, they will be dealt with much quicker than those who erected an elaborate camp at the Kinder Morgan Tank Farm in Burnaby.  Camp Cloud, as it was called, was finally was torn down, after months of growth through trailers, tents and finally the building of a two-story structure on Thursday.

It has taken years to get to this point, however it seems like finally the will of Canadians, to see this project finally get underway, is being realized.

In Kamloops, I’m Alan Forseth.