Kinder Morgan’s Spawning Deterrent Assault on BC Salmon

7/2/2019

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Lynn Perrin, PIPE UP Network Abbotsford - In September 2017 while reading the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain online newsletter, I discovered an article describing in-stream installation of snow fencing to deter salmon spawning in five BC watercourses.

Being a member of the PIPE UP Network, a community group that has spent thousands of hours researching the risks from the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion, and having written an article for the Footprint Press in 2013 about the Environmental risks to the Fraser river watershed from the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, I immediately realized the significance of this assault on salmon spawning beds.

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A lot of water has flowed through the Fraser River watershed to the Salish Sea in the past five years but fewer and fewer salmon are making their way back to their spawning grounds. This is especially true of the Chinook who spawn in watercourses at the beginning of the watershed just south of Mount Robson BC Salmon are a keystone species in BC because 137 other species, including humans, depend on them for sustenance and survival.

PIPE UP participated as Intervenors at the 2014 to 2016 National Energy Board hearings on the KM Trans Moutain expasnsion application. We engaged Mike Pearson, a local fish biologist to submit expert evidence regarding the potential impact of pipeline construction, maintenance and operations, on numerous watercourses in the Fraser Valley. We also had the good fortune to collaborate with another Intervenor, the Salmon River Enhancement Society, who had engaged Dr. Marvin Rosenau, considered the expert on riparian areas in BC In addition, we attended stakeholder workshops hosted by Kinder Morgan regarding their “Environmental Protection Plan” (EPP) for local watercourses. In the EPPworkbook, I was shocked to learn that the proposed expansion would literally cut through over 900 BC watercourses, including 250 that were salmon habitat. Kinder Morgan gave assurances to us (and theNEB) that the “open-cut” trenched construction method would result in “no harm” to salmon habitat. They also asserted that riparian areas would be returned to their original state “to the extent practicable”.

Two years ago we gave our oral argument to the NEB which included a warning about the high risk to all 900 watercourses from the open-cut trenched construction methods and in-stream maintenance. We were disappointed that the NEB recommended approval of the expansion. We were angered at the federal Cabinet approval after they ignored the special panel report that articulated serious concerns and questions. Their 58 page report included this quote from Seabird Band member Tyrone McNeil

“We haven’t seen detailed design. We haven’t seen emergency response plans. We haven’t seen any analysis of the effect of a spill or a recovery strategy for salmon and sturgeon.” - Tyrone McNeil, Seabird Band

The watercourse construction method is purportedly focused on pipeline safety and the possibility of a spill to the extent that habitat is permanently destroyed. The EPP workbook also provided proof that the requirement for healthy fish habitat and riparian areas come in a distant second to “pipeline safety” at the lowest cost possible. This is what the term “to the extent practicable” actually means to Kinder Morgan. There is an alternate and preferred construction method to open-cut trench, known as HDD, which involves tunneling under watercourses. However, it is more expensive and takes longer than open-cut trenching. How does the purported pipeline safety priority, using the cheapest and quickest construction methods, lead to Kinder Morgan’s plans to install plastic snow fencing in spawning beds of 26 watercourses as a way to deter spawning? In a word – negligence – on the part of the regulators, the NEB and the BC Oil and Gas Commission. This is evident in the 2010 and 2016 federal Auditor General reports, which have significant concerns of the poor pipeline condition enforcement by the NEB. An additional fact is the Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and the NEB, which excluded all regulatory oversight for pipelines by DFO and transferred them to the NEB.

All of these factors caused Kinder Morgan to act as if there was no one watching what they were doing to Chinook spawning areas in Swift Creek, Albreda River, and Moonbeam Creek. The snow fences were also installed in breach of the timing window permitted by BC for in-stream work. Discovery of this damaging and disruptive activity lead to five letters from groups and individuals to the NEB demanding that the spawning deterrent installations be stopped, and that the ones installed be removed.

The NEB determined that the spawning deterrent installation constituted illegal construction, but refused to order their removal or issue any financial penalty. To date the BC Oil and Gas Commission has been absolutely silent and has refused to respond to pleas for enforcement of the Water Sustainability Act Section 11. However, some of the spawning deterrents did get removed by salmon defenders at the request of Indigenous Elders. Dogwood Initiative took videos of Swift Creek from a drone which was posted on Facebook and viewed by over 600,000 people. The immediate angry response by thousands indicated how passionate the people of BC are about protecting salmon and their habitat. There were 10,000 emails to Premier Horgan demanding that he get the snow fencing removed and that his government prevent any more from being installed. Currently, some groups are trying to use the NEB Detailed Route hearings to force Kinder Morgan to use the HDD tunneling construction method. Some others are considering private prosecution under the Fisheries Act or the BC Environment Act.

All of us are hoping that the Federal Court rules that the NEB approval was unconstitutional due to the lack of meaningful consultation with Indigenous Peoples, whose unceded territories the expansion would harm, including salmon habitat crucial to their sacred traditions and sustenance.

Lynn Perrin, PIPE UP Network Abbotsford
Bachelor of General Studies / Sociology Minor UFV and
Master of Public Policy SFU