VANCOUVER

Burnaby to appeal Kinder Morgan access to city-owned land

The Canadian Press Published Tuesday, October 28, 2014 11:08AM PDT Last Updated Tuesday, October 28, 2014 11:48AM PDT

Protesting members of the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations paddle canoes on the waters of Burrard Inlet to the Kinder Morgan Burnaby Terminal in North Vancouver, B.C., on Sept. 1, 2012. (Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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BURNABY, B.C. - The City of Burnaby, B.C., says it plans to appeal a National Energy Board decision granting energy giant Kinder Morgan access to a municipal conservation area.

The city has tried to block the company from conducting survey work in the area on Burnaby Mountain -- Kinder Morgan's preferred route for the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

But the energy board ruled last week that Burnaby can't bar the company's activities because the geotechnical work is needed by the board to make a recommendation to the federal government about whether the project should proceed.

Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan says he wasn't surprised by the ruling but that it's inappropriate for the board to decide whether Kinder Morgan can override municipal bylaws.

Corrigan says the city will appeal the board's decision in Federal Court.

Kinder Morgan's proposed pipeline expansion would almost triple the capacity of its existing line between Alberta and the B.C. coast to about 900,000 barrels of crude a day.