When Joy Mancinelli and her neighbours received a hand-delivered package from a land agent hired by Kinder Morgan, it was their first inkling that the proposed new twinned Trans Mountain Pipeline could rip through their backyards.
They got even more bad news on Sunday when the land agent returned and told them Kinder Morgan could take even more land than it had initially mapped out.
“It goes right across our backyard and then turns and goes around the side of our house, which is most of our property,” said Mancinelli, who has lived in her Fraser Heights home since 1979. “They can just get a right-of-way and waltz across your land and say ‘kiss my butt’ and they’re gone.”
Such a scenario is being played out across Metro Vancouver, not only in Surrey but in pockets of Langley Township and Burnaby, as Kinder Morgan maps out its potential alternative routes ahead of a National Energy Board hearing for the $5.4-billion project.
But while the land agent is approaching individual homeowners, it isn’t necessarily informing the city of its plans for proposed alternate routes. Surrey, for instance, said it was made aware of the situation after residents contacted the engineering department to complain, while Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan said he’s heard of residents in his city also being approached by Kinder Morgan.
“It’s quite secretive, it’s not like they’re telling us where they’re going,” Corrigan said. “It seems like they’re hedging their bets. They’re ignoring the fact that when they do this, they’re causing a lot of concern in these neighbourhoods.”
The pipeline-twinning proposal — which will nearly triple capacity to 890,000 barrels a day and bring 400 more tankers a year to Burrard Inlet — would create about 90 permanent jobs and employ 4,500 people at the peak of construction. But it has also seen opposition from environmentalists, First Nations, community groups and municipalities, many of which have applied for intervener status in the NEB hearings, with their chief concern being the risk of spills from pipelines and tankers.
Burnaby, which has fought any expansion of the pipeline, has asked its legal counsel to send a letter to the National Energy Board requesting the application to be rejected because it has “insufficient information” on an emergency safety plan and a clear route through the region.
Burnaby argues that contrary to what Kinder Morgan has told the public, more than 90 per cent of the pipeline route proposed for Burnaby is new, and does not follow the existing right of way.
“We’re just guessing at what route they’re going to take or what direction they may go,” Corrigan said. “I suspect this issue is going to get a lot more attention now in the Lower Mainland as residents become more aware of the potential impacts.”
Indeed, Kinder Morgan last December suggested the proposed route would skirt new neighbourhoods in Langley and Surrey — in Walnut Grove and Fraser Heights, respectively — by moving the pipeline closer to the Fraser River to utilize railway and road corridors. Mancinelli, who lives two blocks from the existing pipeline, said that’s what she and her neighbours had expected before their visit from the land agent.
Louella Mathias said she was tipped off to the plan after the agent, Lori White, asked her to authorize soil samples on her 1.3-acre property. When Mathias questioned why, White told her that the twinned pipeline could come through her property, and showed her maps of the proposed easement in her backyard. She estimates eight to 10 residents are affected by the proposal.
“I was taken aback. You don’t have someone knock on your door and say ‘you’re going to lose your land,’” said Mathias, who bought her home for more than $1 million in 2012. “From the (first) picture it didn’t seem like we would lose a lot. But it’s much clearer we’re going to lose a lot more.”
Residents argue a pipeline would have major consequences for their neighbourhood. Most properties affected are an acre or more in size and have septic fields and wells because they aren’t yet connected to city services. Cheryl-Ann Archibald, who has lived in Fraser Heights for 30 years, maintains the proposed easement for the pipeline is also 30 feet wide, which would take up half her backyard, right to the back door of her two-storey house.
One of her biggest concerns, she said, is that Kinder Morgan isn’t dealing with residents as a group. “It’s the old divide and conquer thing,” she said.
But Greg Toth, senior project manager for Kinder Morgan, maintains the land agent was hired to visit residents across Metro to ask for authorization to survey the land for environmental assessment. He noted the company has cited its preferred options for the pipeline, but will continue to work on the alternate alignments, such as the one through the Fraser Heights neighbourhood, to ensure the project goes ahead.
The route could possibly run through the Mancinelli’s neighbourhood, Toth added, if that proves more feasible than diverting the pipeline through Surrey Bend Regional Park.
But there’s a huge process that would have to be followed in such a case, he added, including reaching mutual agreement with the landowners, coming up with proper compensation and having the National Energy Board declare the project of national interest. Homeowners would also have the right to object, he said, and added the last resort would be to enact a “right of entry” should a landowner obstruct the process.
“We’re continuing the work on the South Fraser Perimeter Road and the rail corridor but at the same time we’re always exploring options where we get some negative feedback or where we don’t have total control of the route,” Toth said.
Kinder Morgan plans to hold open houses next month in Surrey, Langley and Burnaby, Toth said, while it will meet with the Fraser Heights Residents’ Association. Toth maintains that Kinder Morgan has changed its alternative route around the Salmon River Valley, near Fort Langley, after listening to residents.
Tony Capuccinello, legal council for the City of Surrey, said the city is still waiting to hear what Kinder Morgan has planned for the pipeline before it can determine the potential effects on neighbourhoods.
“It’s not clear what the alignment is and that’s another reason we want to preserve all rights until that’s crystallized,” he said. “We want to know everything there is to know so we can assess that with our experts and protect the city’s interests.”
But the Fraser Heights residents aren’t convinced that Kinder Morgan won’t go ahead with its plans and put a pipeline through her backyard anyway. They have applied for intervener status in the National Energy Board hearings and have been in constant contact with the city.
“It came out of the blue,” Mancinelli said. “They’re going to get permission to do it and run it wherever they please.”
The National Energy Board must review the application and accept it as complete before an assessment and public hearings could begin next year. Any decision would likely be delivered in early 2015 because of the federal Conservatives’ new legislated, tightened time frame for a review and decision within 15 months.
If approved, construction could begin in 2015, and the pipeline would be operating in 2017.
