Former Trans Mountain environmental engineer arrested blocking Kinder Morgan construction

“We lived and worked in fear when I worked for Trans Mountain, because the reality is that no amount of equipment or people is going to change the fact that in the event of a spill, they will be able to recover very little.”

20 March 2018, Unceded Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver) — A former environmental engineer for Trans Mountain has been arrested with a group of students and youth at the gates of Kinder Morgan’s Burnaby Mountain tank farm.

Romilly Cavanaugh, former Trans Mountain environmental engineer arrested today:

“I worked for Trans Mountain’s environmental department in the 1990s. If there is a tanker spill or spill from the pipeline itself, from Edmonton to Vancouver and down to Washington, the best Trans Mountain will be able to do, even today, is between 10 and 20% recovery.

The rest will remain in the environment, damaging fish, birds, crabs – everything you can imagine. We lived and worked in fear when I worked for Trans Mountain, because the reality is that no amount of equipment or people is going to change the fact that in the event of a spill, they will be able to recover very little.”

Protesters arrived on site at around 11:00 am and tied themselves to the main gates of Kinder Morgan’s Burnaby construction site, blocking the entrance.

Ten were arrested today, making more than 60 people who have been arrested in opposition to Kinder Morgan’s pipeline project since the first day of action on Saturday, March 17th.

Early Monday, a 70-year-old grandfather scaled and set up camp in a tree directly in the path of Kinder Morgan’s clear-cutting activity. He was arrested and removed at 8:00 p.m. by the B.C. RCMP Emergency Response Team (ERT). Kinder Morgan must finish cutting trees before the March 26th deadline, when migratory birds will begin nesting.

Following the estimated 10,000 person-strong march and rally against Kinder Morgan last Saturday, bold demonstrations of daily resistance from residents all over British Columbia are expected to continue throughout the week. Solidarity actions are also spreading south of the border; on Sunday, kayaktivists took to the water to block access to Kinder Morgan’s oil terminal in Seattle.

Current opposition to Kinder Morgan’s pipeline and tanker project includes the Province of British Columbia, the state of Washington, the cities of Vancouver, Burnaby, and Victoria and 19 other BC municipalities and 250,000 petition signers. More than 23,000 have taken a pledge to do “whatever it takes” to stop Kinder Morgan. One-in-ten British Columbians, and one-in-four opponents of Kinder Morgan’s new pipeline in British Columbia say they would be willing to take peaceful civil disobedience to resist the pipeline.

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Showing 12 reactions

Michele Beaudry commented 2018-03-26 14:46:39 -0700
To the person who wrote this long diatribe : I am sorry for people who have lost their jobs. I lost mine 3 times and it was not on a pipeline. These things happen in life. It happens to everyone. Now I think that you need some education about what is wrong with Kinder Morgan. We in B.C. do not need to have a project which is forced upon us without our consent. Clean up will be on our land and there is no guarantee that K.M. will do much about it. It is an unacceptable level of risk of spills. We are the caretakers of the western waters of Canada. 400 tankers a year provides a great danger to marine life and will impact and likely lead to the extinction of the Southern Resident Orca pod. Of course you landlubbers care not of such things, but we do and we intend to fight for it. So get used to it.
Victoria Best commented 2018-03-24 17:11:39 -0700
#wow Pipelines are useful in homes for water, not oil for greedy governments! I’m glad there’s organizations like Coast Protectors working to make a difference. i know there’s lots local businesses could do as well especially irrigation companies who know how pipelines work. I know one company helping to raise awareness by their stickers: https://www.irrigationvictoriabc.com/ but stickers wont cut it. We need police to arrest these crooks!
Marty Tollington commented 2018-03-23 01:24:22 -0700
If Canadian Citizens concerns keep being ignored by the Canadian Government we need to remove the Canadian Government and send them back to England and Europe from whence they came.
Jessie Kerr commented 2018-03-22 16:33:11 -0700
Both the Federal Conservatives and now the Federal Liberals are supporting the Tar Sands and the pipeline. Does Canada have the courage to step out of the dark ages? This crude bitumen is destructive before it even reaches the pipeline. We are pumping beautiful potable water into the tar sands, wasting it to get the bitumen out. If we took all those jobs and turned them into revitalization of the ruined landscape and the development of alternative energy sources, there would be many jobs. Perhaps our taxes would be higher, but at least there will be a future, healthy home for humans and other life.
Michele Beaudry commented 2018-03-22 07:03:40 -0700
We in Sechelt are meeting at the T.D. Bank on Saturday March 24th at 1 p.m. in order to hold a simultaneous protest with the rest of Greater Vancouver. We are demanding that T.D. stop the $731,000,000 given to Kinder Morgan. I will also be attending one of the many demonstrations being held in Greater Vancouver on Friday evening. I am prepared to go to jail for my environment.
Earl Richards commented 2018-03-21 16:44:43 -0700
The toxic, tar sands have to be refined/upgraded into synthetic crude oil, before transporting from the tar sands regions, to prevent another Kalamazoo River disaster from happening anywhere.
Lynda Dernisky commented 2018-03-21 15:50:04 -0700
Thank you Romilly Cavanaugh, I wish more B.C. residents would take a little more TIME to actually realize what is at stake here. This isn’t about jobs. This isn’t a personal vendetta against Alberta. This is a WARNING
from Mother Nature! If we do not stop dredging bitumin to ship overseas, our future families will be left with nothing. Any spill of this substance can not be cleaned up. It is so dense that is must be diluted with volatile solvents in order to send it through the pipeline. A spill of any magnitude is leathal! I am asking people to please read the report from Michell Anderson “THE SPILL FROM HELL” Poisoned air and Sunken Gunk. A cleanup nightmare. July 2010 a 30 inch pipeline burst and drained 843,000 gallons of BITUMIN into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River in rural Michigan. Please inform yourself before you speak against the people that are fighting for YOU and YOUR family. This is not an easy task. We are everyday citizens from every walk of life and all POLITICAL views in B.C. trying to get this important message accross to ALL B.C. residents. Take the time to read FACTS not FICTION about the KINDER MORGAN PIPELINE.
Gary Warburton commented 2018-03-21 14:15:33 -0700
My reaction to Trudeau is show us some scientists who agree with your plan. I would suggest that the reason you haven`t shown us any is because there isn`t any. I wonder what the people at the climate in Paris would say if they knew what Trudeau has planned for the people of B.C. When is the next climate summit and I wonder if it could be held in Vancouver. Here we are on the verge of switching to electric vehicles all over the world with many vehicle manufacturers stopping the manufacturing of vehicles that run on fossil fuels and Trudeau wants to start shipping more oil to the world. Talk about being out of touch.
Marina Szijarto followed this page 2018-03-21 01:47:58 -0700
Cathie Reid commented 2018-03-21 00:14:37 -0700
Fellow Canadians/voters – we must look hard at why this is necessary and hold each of our elected representatives accountable to a definition of ‘economic interest’ that is fully costed/inclusive to the health and balance of all living system stakeholders (and in the public/common versus private profit interest). While our governments have difficult decisons to make to ensure that our petro dependent economy does not crash we must let them know that the energy and other carbon intense industry transitions (like agriculture) must happen rapidly and led by evidence not corporate/industrial lobbying.
Heather Hestler commented 2018-03-20 20:42:01 -0700
Thank you, Romilly Cavanaugh, for your statement. I believe it. I live with fear in my heart for the environment. Please understand, it isn’t a world I know intimately, but I know how important it is that it survive for generations of all life….and I stress ALL….not just our own human life. Something that contemporary life can never touch…can never make less of it…never convert to other purposes. I really want to know that ‘nature’ will exist…continue to exist…beyond anything we humans can try to reallocate to OUR needs. Do you understand?
Norm Fred commented 2018-03-20 16:44:50 -0700
This sounds very familiar. It is similar to the protest actions taken by EF and other environmentalist groups in the Headwaters Forest of Northern California in 1990 against PALCO when they overcut the Redwoods near Stafford, Ca. Good luck to all of you in Canada and the USA who are working to save our lands and waters.