Pipeline fight continues, federal decision does not reduce spill risk: Horgan
VICTORIA — Premier John Horgan says he will continue the fight to protect British Columbia’s coast from the consequences of an oil spill regardless of who owns the Trans Mountain pipeline.
The federal government’s decision to take over the pipeline from Kinder Morgan doesn’t change his government’s position to oppose the expansion project from Edmonton to Burnaby or its decision last month to pursue a reference case to the B.C. Court of Appeal, Horgan said Tuesday.
“I believe we have an obligation to ensure that we are doing everything we can to avoid the catastrophic consequences of a diluted bitumen spill,” he said.
Horgan said Ottawa’s decision to buy the pipeline does not reduce the risk to B.C.’s environment and economy, which is why the province is asking the court whether it has jurisdiction to protect itself from a spill. The fact the pipeline is about to be owned by a federal Crown corporation doesn’t affect the reference case, he added.