The City of Merritt agreed to draft a letter of support for Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion on April 17.
The motion was passed by council at Tuesday’s general meeting, with all members of council except for Coun. Diana Norgaard voting in favour. She told the Herald she’s not against the project, but the process thus far.
“I’m personally not against the pipeline but I have some concerns. I don’t believe that Kinder Morgan has done a sufficient job of educating/assuring the public of safety and spill recovery measures,” she said.
She expressed concerns about women in our community and reconciliation efforts with First Nations.
“I’m concerned about the safety of vulnerable women in communities located near construction camps. Historically, construction camps are bad places for vulnerable women and employers can say all the right words but I’m not sure they can or will put them into action,” she said. “I’m also extremely disappointed in the federal government’s and the corporation’s dealings with First Nations and I think the whole exercise has been damaging to any reconciliation efforts.”
She said measures taken to spur the pipeline expansion have come in the form of bullying, and stressed the importance of respectful, intelligent dialogue moving forward.
“There are rumours that the federal government will impose sanctions by way of cutting infrastructure grants to B.C. (bullying); when the Alberta government refuses B.C. wines and threatens our petroleum supply (bullying); when KM threatens to shut down the project (bullying); when our Premier threatens KM even though the court has ruled no jurisdiction (bullying),” she said in an e-mail.
Mayor Neil Menard maintained his position that the pipeline will benefit the community.
“We’re very supportive of the pipeline — we’re strong believers it’s the safest way to move oil right across the country,” he said.
