File Photo (Image Credit: The Canadian Press)

By James Peters

Trans Mountain

No support for Walsh’s bid to have Trans Mountain pipeline moved out of Westsyde

Jan 14, 2020 | 5:23 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops council will not be asking the nation’s energy regulator to move the Trans Mountain pipeline out of Westsyde.

Councillor Denis Walsh defended a motion at Tuesday’s (Jan. 14) regular council meeting calling on the city to write the Canadian Energy Regulator (CER). Walsh wants CER to direct Trans Mountain to remove the existing Trans Mountain pipeline from the largely residential area of Westsyde, placing it instead along the route of the expansion planned for the Lac Du Bois grasslands.

Walsh says his concern is for the future safety of the pipeline.

“The record (for Trans Mountain) is good, but just in North America, the number of pipelines even newer than this pipeline that have had problems… Pipelines do have problems, whether it’s from welds or somebody with a backhoe hitting it, there is a potential risk.”

But the majority of council resisted the move, including councillor Arjun Singh.

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“Am I someone who can say that I would ask them to relocate the pipeline at this point? No, because I’m not the expert in that conversation.”

Singh noted at a recent meeting of Westsyde property owners, very few seemed concerned about the future safety of the existing pipeline.

Council voted 7-1, with Councillor Dieter Dudy absent, to defeat Walsh’s motion.