Chilliwack is one of the first communities along the Kinder Morgan pipeline to turn up its nose at hundreds of thousands of dollars of free money from the Texas oil giant for local amenities.
The offer of $800,000 to pay for 80 per cent of a pedestrian bridge across the Vedder River was called a bribe by critics of the company and its plan to triple capacity of the 62-year-old Trans Mountain pipeline that runs from the Alberta oil sands to Burnaby.
Kinder Morgan has signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) worth $5 million to most communities east of Hope along the 1,150-kilometre route of the pipeline except for two, according to the city’s director of operations Glen MacPherson.
All that money is contingent upon the National Energy Board’s (NEB) approval of the $5.4-billion project after the current review. The City of Chilliwack is a registered commenter in that review, and the Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) — of which the city is a member — is an intervener.
PAUL J. HENDERSON – THE PROVINCE – CHILLIWACK TIMES – MAY 20, 2015.
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