Burnaby Mountain pipeline work in legal limbo

Kinder Morgan's pipeline work on Burnaby Mountain has been left in the legal lurch, following a National Energy Board decision on the company's request for an access order.

Before deciding, the board is asking Kinder Morgan to file a "notice of constitutional question," – a notice, also sent to the Canada's attorney generals, outlining the company's legal argument.

Kinder Morgan was asking the NEB for an access order that would have effectively nullified the city's bylaw against cutting trees in a public park.

"In our view, that clearly raises a constitutional question," said Sarah Kiley, spokesperson for the National Energy Board. "No constitutional question has been placed before us, and there's a formal process for that."

Kiley indicated the NEB would consider a notice quickly, should Kinder Morgan file one.

The city's lawyer Greg McDade considered the board's ruling a success for Burnaby.

The decision, announced Thursday afternoon, reaffirms that Burnaby's bylaws still stand, for now, despite the National Energy Board Act provisions that allowed private companies to access land without the owners' permission...more