City council backs pipe through grasslands
Proposed pipeline route.
UPDATE — Kamloops City council Tuesday backed a report from its staff suggesting it support an application by Kinder Morgan to route its Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion through the Lac du Bois grasslands rather than twin the existing route through Westsyde.
NEWS/ CITY HALL — Kamloops should support re-routing the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion through the sensitive Lac du Bois grasslands, a staff report going to City council today (Tuesday) says.
Kinder Morgan wants to twin its existing pipeline but rather than follow the route of the existing single pipe through Westsyde, it wants to run the new one through the grasslands because as Westsyde became developed, buildings have encroached on the pipeline right of way.
The Kamloops Naturalist Club opposes the plan, pointing to the fragility of the grasslands. “We do not want to see the values of this important grassland area whittled away when alternative routes for a pipeline exist,” the club said in a letter to Kinder Morgan last April.
But City public works and utilities director Jenn Fretz says in a report to council that “the current level of commercial and residential development in Westsyde will present significant challenges to the City and residents of the Westsyde community” if the Westsyde route is chosen.
She says in her report the Westsyde route would involve more than 40 crossings of city utilities and would disrupt residents and impact future development. The effect on City staffing and finances would be significant, she says.
“There would be the potential for infrastructure damage during construction, as well as a need to move existing water and sewer piping to avoid the oil pipeline.”
There would also be significant traffic delays on Westsyde Road and other local roads during construction.
Numerous sheds, fences and gardens have encroached onto Trans Mountain’s right of way — the backyards of more than 100 property owners would become industrial worksites.
Kinder Morgan has applied to the Ministry of Environment to remove land from the Lac du Bois Grasslands Protected Area to provide for the pipeline. Its expansion project is being reviewed by the National Energy Board.
Fretz acknowledges there “may be some negative aspects” to installing a pipeline through the grasslands.
Council will consider sending a letter to the ministry supporting Kinder Morgan.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
KInder Morgan will have to foot the entire bill for the expansion. I wonder why is the city all of the sudden on the hooks for certain costs? That should not be the case.
As for the homeowners encroaching on an existing right-of-way that is their problems.
Entirely.
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I was wondering where all of these ” significant challenges ” were coming from also. Is this another case of city staff crying Wolf, or did the city agree to something that they haven’t asked the taxpayer about yet ?
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Indeed – shouldn’t we be doing what is best for the city and the park and let the company cover ALL the costs – if it is approved? Why would local government be on the hook for any of it? The city needs to say no to private interests that would cause big public costs – not just say okay to the easy way out.
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