Trans Mountain outlines construction plan for next 6 months in Alberta, B.C.

Trans Mountain has filed a six-month construction schedule with the National Energy Board for the expansion of its Alberta-to-B.C. pipeline.

The company says work has been underway since last fall at the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, B.C., and will continue along with additional work in the Lower Mainland.

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It says it will begin this month to develop the Westridge Marine Terminal tunnel portal at Burnaby Mountain and relocate existing infrastructure to expand the Burnaby Terminal.

It also says work on a 290-kilometre stretch of pipeline between Edmonton and Jasper National Park will start in August and include surveying, staking and flagging the right-of-way.

It says it will clear trees and vegetation in the area while taking measures to protect the environment with relocation of rare plants and by conducting wildlife surveys.

In September, surveying, staking and flagging the right-of-way will begin in North Thompson, B.C., on a 120-kilometre stretch between Mt. Robson Provincial Park and Blue River.

On Tuesday, activists with Greenpeace rappelled off a bridge in Vancouver to protest the pipeline expansion, which has been purchased by the Canadian government for $4.5 billion.

Greenpeace activist Mike Hudema, one of several protesters hanging under the bridge, told CBC News that opponents of the project aren't going to give up.

"People can just expect resistance to this project to grow," he said.

"Already we've seen over 200 people risking arrest and getting arrested to try and oppose this project, and those numbers are going to continue to increase as it moves forward."

Energy analyst Jeremy McCreasays the headlines generated by such opposition is continuing to drive away foreign investment.

"There just continues to be protest after protest, keeping a lot of investors nervous that these pipelines will ever actually get built," he said.

"It just creates a cold climate for investors to invest up in Canada, just seeing that we still struggle to get infrastructure built."

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