I am glad to see that our new NDP government has brought in Justice Thomas Berger to advise on how to stop the Kinder Morgan pipeline. I have an idea of my own that I would like to play with.
BC should pass a pipeline building tax of enormous scale; say $10 million per mile, or whatever will be enough to stop Kinder in its tracks. Kinder, and probably the Feds, will no doubt launch a legal challenge to the tax, a challenge that will end up in the Supreme Court.
If BC wins, great. However, should the Supremes finally rule that the tax is somehow illegal, no problem: we then invoke the Notwithstanding Clause which, as I recall, is designed for exactly such a purpose.
That’s what I would urge the NDP and Greens to do.
Jak's View of Vancouver v.3 
Rather than fixate (or spill more ink) on a pipeline that will soon be obsolete anyways, why not redirect some of that concern for the energy mix that *actually* powers our lives in BC?
When’s the last time you heard of a large renewables (wind, solar) project designed to take out BC’s coal, natural gas, and garbage burning facilities?
And, breathed the local air recently?
We have to “obsess” about this pipeline regardless of whether it will be obsolete. If we don’t stop it now it will be built which which will be an existential disaster.
We have to stop the oil-based projects AT THE SAME TIME as we push for more renewable actions because the power of the oil companies, Koch money, and Alberta’s influence on Ottawa is too great to ignore.
Jak I did a little research, I was curious about whether the pipeline or the tankers are insured – they are not. You can get insurance against flood, earthquake and terrorist attack, but not for oil spills.
Kinder Morgan has a one billion dollar fund, and industry and the federal government top that up to 1.36 billion. For perspective, there is an eleven year old Washington state study that pegs a catastrophic spill at 10.6 billion and a loss of 165,000 jobs.
Online I have challenged pipeline supporters to have the energy industry or Alberta’s heritage fund to post a bond of ten billion against environmental damage in B.C. There has been no response. If it’s too risky for the insurance industry, it’s too risky for the B.C. taxpayer on a financial basis alone. The graveyard of the pacific took down the Queen of the North ten years ago, and B.C. ferries has an enviable safety record. Humans are human, accidents happen.
Thanks for this, Keith. All the more reason to stop it moving forward (as if we needed any more reasons!)