The B.C. Oil and Gas Commission says it has fined Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. $920 for four violations of the provincial Water Sustainability Act related to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
The commission says it issued tickets late last week for one violation related to non-compliance in the use of fish spawning deterrents and three related to non-compliance In water volume reporting — each of which carries a $230 fine.
In an email, Trans Mountain's media relations department confirms it received the violation tickets and is currently reviewing them.
It says the charges are related to its installation last fall of deterrents through its fisheries protection program to discourage fish from spawning in stream areas that would be affected by construction, a method it says has been approved by the National Energy Board.
However, it says the NEB determined the deterrents were a construction activity that occurred when construction wasn't authorized and, as a result, activity was halted and the installations were removed.
It says the water withdrawal charges are for not reporting zero usage of water after it didn’t withdraw water as it was permitted to do.
Comments
The construction fencing was in riverbeds where Chinook were spawning. Chinook are the main food source of the Southern resident orcas, that are starving.
The fencing was discovered by citizens like the ones that are protesting the pipeline, often referred to as terrorists. Some of It was removed by citizens protecting the fish and the rivers.
Without the watch that protectors are keeping on the pipeline, some spills and this illegal disruption of salmon spawning wiuld be unknown.
We owe these people a debt of thanks for caring about the health of our country and ourselves. It is them that David Dodge has predicted may have to be killed while they are trying to ensure we all have clean air and water. What a travesty.