Thousands call on Port of Vancouver to reject the company’s construction permit.
Vancouver, BC – Nearly 5,000 people have sent messages to the Port of Vancouver calling for a rejection of Kinder Morgan’s permits to begin expanding the Westridge Marine Terminal on Burrard Inlet.
“We know that Kinder Morgan doesn’t have permission from communities, cities, Indigenous peoples and thousands of us in British Columbia to start construction,” said Cameron Fenton, Canada Communications and Strategy Manager with 350.org. “They also don’t have the permits to start construction”.
The campaign calling on the Port of Vancouver to reject permits for Kinder Morgan’s planned tanker terminal expansion, a more than three-fold expansion of the terminal size, was launched last week after the National Energy Board signed off on the terminal construction.
“This boils down to a simple fact, the Port should stand up for the environment, the water and the people who live around Burrard Inlet, including the Indigenous Peoples who have rejected this pipeline,” Clayton Thomas-Muller, 350.org’s Stop-it-at-the-Source campaigner, explained. “Respecting Indigenous rights means free, prior and informed consent and Kinder Morgan does not have that. That’s why the Port of Vancouver needs to reject this permit.”
More people are expected to join the campaign in the coming days and weeks, especially with Kinder Morgan’s September 7th start date for pipeline construction on the horizon.
“Bottom line, the BC government has banned Kinder Morgan from building on public lands and they don’t have the permits to start building anywhere else,” Thomas-Muller said. “So adding it up, we have no permits and no permission, to me that means no pipeline.”
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Contact: Cameron Fenton, [email protected] , 604-369-2155