Burnaby mayor wants more action on pipeline after meeting with Trudeau

The mayor of Burnaby, B.C., says he met withPrime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss his concerns about the riskof a fire at a tank farm in his city, which would be the terminus ofan expanded Trans Mountain pipeline.

Mike Hurley said he told Trudeau on Saturday that the facility onBurnaby Mountain is within five kilometres of forests and aresidential area that would put thousands of lives in danger.

"I said, 'If it goes ahead, and I sincerely hope it doesn't, wehave to have some serious discussions around safety and protectingour residents,"' said Hurley, a former firefighter.

He characterized the meeting as a good start but said an initialdiscussion with Trudeau has to be backed up by concrete measuresfrom the federal government, which is expected to announce adecision on the future of the project later this month.

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"I want to sit down and talk about the real issues in depth withpeople who are experts in that field to ensure that we're gettingthe protection for our residents that we need," Hurley said.

"Theprime minister and I talking about it doesn't really produceanything."

Trudeau attended a street festival in Burnaby immediately aftermeeting with Hurley but did not take any questions from media.

The Prime Minister's Office said only that the meeting includedrepresentatives of the fire department and focused on local issuessuch as housing.

Hurley said he told Trudeau that Burnaby is bearing the brunt ofthe risk for a twinned pipeline that the federal governmentpurchased for $4.5 billion and the Alberta government is pushing tohave built.

"Everyone's willing to put our community at risk to fulfil theirneeds and we need some answers," Hurley said about the pipelinethat would more than triple the amount of diluted bitumen flowingfrom the Edmonton area to a port in Burnaby.

Flammable liquids

"Any time you're dealing with flammable liquids like oil there'salways a chance there can be a rupture of the tank, there can be aboilover of some sort within the tank that can cause reallydangerous chemical reactions, not to mention fires that would comealong with that."

Hurley said he doesn't agree with Alberta's ad campaign launchedlast week in an effort to sway people in favour of a pipeline thathe and many residents of Burnaby do not support.

• Alberta starts new ad campaign for troubled Trans Mountain pipeline

He said the province's focus on a future based on oil is "afantasy."

"The good old days of the oil industry are over and they need tostart preparing for a new economy," he said.

The National Energy Board endorsed the pipeline expansion earlierthis year after reconsidering its effects on marine life off thecoast of British Columbia.

Last month, pro-pipeline protesters rallying outside a Calgaryoffice tower during a clean energy announcement by federal NaturalResources Minister Amarjeet Sohi chanted "build the pipeline."

Sohi told reporters the government is working toward getting thepipeline built and has also said officials have been consulting withIndigenous communities.

The proposal to twin the Trans Mountain pipeline was firstapproved by cabinet in 2016.

The Federal Court of Appeal rescindedthat decision in August, saying neither an environmental review norIndigenous consultations had been properly completed.