The $7.4-billion Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion may be scrapped entirely unless agreements can be reached by May 31 to resolve “uncertainty” created by the opposition of the B.C. government, the company announced Sunday.
“If we cannot reach agreement by May 31, it is difficult to conceive of any scenario in which we would proceed with the project,” Kinder Morgan said in a news release. “The time period for reaching a potential resolution is short, but necessarily so because of approaching construction windows, the time required to mobilize contractors, and the need to commit materials orders.”
“The uncertainty as to whether we will be able to finish what we start leads us to the conclusion that we should protect the value that KML has, rather than risking billions of dollars on an outcome that is outside of our control,” KML chairman and chief executive officer Steve Kean said in the release.
“A company cannot resolve differences between governments. While we have succeeded in all legal challenges to date, a company cannot litigate its way to an in-service pipeline amidst jurisdictional differences between governments.”
Kinder Morgan’s move is the latest development among a myriad of political and legal wrangling over the Trans Mountain project, which has continued even after the expansion was approved in 2016 by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Keith Gerein – Edmonton Journal – April 8, 2018.
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