Kinder Morgan pipeline crews to resume work on Burnaby Mountain

Kinder Morgan says it plans to send crews back to Burnaby Mountain today to continue survey work for its Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion, despite efforts to stop the work by the City of Burnaby.

But it is not just city officials who are trying to stop the survey work for the proposed route. Pipeline opponent, Ruth Walmsley says she and others are willing to break the law to stop the pipeline.

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"I would not be surprised....I do not advocate violence...I am a Quaker. I'm a  pacifist, but I do believe in nonviolent direct action. It is a powerful tool for change," she said.

"I think there are a lot of people that are prepared. There are trainings going on all over the place for direct action."

Earlier this week the city issued  two stop work orders and fined the company for cutting down 13 trees in the Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area.

But the city's legal counsel Greg McDade says ten private security guards hired by Kinder Morgan blocked park staff from coming near the work site earlier this week.

"When park staff tried to access the site to observe what was happening by way of park trails. they were stopped by, physically stopped by security guards," he says.

Kinder Morgan spokesperson Lizette Parsons Bell says people were kept out for their own good.

"It's for people's safety," says Bell

She says workers will return today.

McDade says he concerned by what the company plans to do next.

"It's rumored that they're going to try and bring in a helicopter to load drilling equipment onto that site and further damage it.

Pipeline expansion plans

Kinder Morgan wants to bore a hole under the mountain as part of a proposal to nearly triple the capacity of the existing pipeline, but the city has vowed to block the project however it can.

Earlier this year the National Energy Board ruled that the company has the right to access the area and conduct the survey work.

But the city says while Kinder Morgan may have a right to be on Burnaby Mountain, they don't have the right to cut trees in the conservation area

The two-kilometre section though the Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area would link the Burnaby Terminal and the Westridge Marine Terminal.

The company says the new route would minimize traffic disruption during construction and avoid four privately-owned properties.