B.C. government supports dredging Burrard Inlet so tankers can carry more oil – BC

The B.C. government was initially opposed to the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion but is now supporting a proposal that would allow tankers to carry more oil through B.C. waters.

Trans Mountain wants to increase the volume of oil each tanker transports but that would involve dredging the Burrard Inlet to prevent heavier tankers from hitting the sea floor.

“The circumstance now is that the pipeline can’t be fully utilized because the ships would simply touch the bottom of the Burrard Inlet,” Adrian Dix, B.C.’s minister of climate and energy told Global News.

“So the proposal from the federal government, what they suggested would happen, is that there be some dredging done so that we have, there would be less traffic, ship traffic, in the Burrard Inlet and we don’t have ships leaving Vancouver after we spent $34 billion on the pipeline and going down to the United States to fill up before they go, say to Asia.”

Dix said the B.C. government would have no issue with the proposal if it passes federal environmental checks and balances.

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He added that it would mean fewer ships travelling through the ports, which would be better for the environment.

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Environmental groups, however, are against the proposal.

“The fact he is putting his support behind another fossil fuel project when this province is not going to meet its emissions targets is absolutely ridiculous,” Isabel Siu-Zmuidzinas with the Wilderness Committee said.

Premier John Horgan actively opposed the original plan for the pipeline expansion to the point where the original owner, Kinder Morgan, unloaded it on taxpayers for $4.5 billion.

The pipeline cost another $34 billion to complete, according to the opposition Conservatives, partly because of the New Democrat opposition

“It was David Eby and Adrian Dix who used every tool in the tool kit to block this pipeline,” Gavin Dew said.

“Now… suddenly when everyone is talking about international trade and trade diversification they’re on board.”

The plan to dredge the inlet is in its infancy and would need to be initiated by the federal government and would need to clear several environmental and regulatory hurdles.

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