Trans Mountain pipeline ordered to stop expansion work

Canada’s Trans Mountain crude pipeline received orders from the country’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change to halt work on the system’s expansion in an area near Burnaby, BC, until Aug. 20, 2021, the end of the current bird nesting season. Work encompassed includes tree felling and other use of chainsaws, bulldozers, or heavy equipment. 

Citizen complaints prompted enforcement officer visits which prompted the orders. A number of birds in the area are protected under Canada’s Migratory Birds Convention Act, passed in 1917 and updated in 1994.

The Trans Mountain Expansion, increasing the pipeline’s capacity to 890,000 b/d from 300,000 b/d, is expected to be complete late 2022.

The Canadian government bought Trans Mountain from Kinder Morgan in 2018 (OGJ Online, May 29, 2018).