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Colin MacDonald and the Saxophilia Saxophone Quartet performed in the Kwantlen Polytechnic University auditorium at lunchtime Wednesday. The performance was part of KPU’s Music at Midweek series in which a free noon-hour concert is offered to visitors. Formed in 1996, the quartet, which includes MacDonald on baritone, Julia Nolan on tenor, Kris Covlin on alto, and David Branter on soprano, performs regularly at post-secondary institutions across the Lower Mainland. The next Music at Midweek concert takes place on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at noon, when the UBC Opera Ensemble will take the stage inside the KPU auditorium.
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Environment
Pipeline could run through flood plain
The major oil pipeline expansion planned through Langley is angering at least one resident. by Matthew Claxton mclaxton@langleyadvance.com
The rebuilt Trans Mountain Pipeline could run under the Salmon River floodplain near Fort Langley, or under a publicly owned golf course. The two options are both under One of them would pass through consideration by Kinder Morgan, the Salmon River floodplain, which owns the oil pipeline that while another would go farther runs from Edmonton to Burnaby west, then head north through through Langley. the Redwoods Golf Course, a Greg Toth, a senior project Township-owned piece of land director with Kinder Morgan, destined to eventually become a presented the alternate routes to public park. the Langley Township council Councillors had a Monday as part number of questions of an update on “It is not a matter of if, about spills, environthe controversial mental and groundplan to more it is a matter of when water safety, and the than double the and where it will leak.” proposed routes. oil pipeline’s Byron Smith “Your pipeline’s capacity. running over quite The pipe ships a distance where 300,000 barrels residents draw their water from of oil per day, and the expanprivate wells,” said Councillor sion would almost triple that to Kim Richter. 890,000 barrels per day. She asked about what will hapThe current route heads around pen if there is a leak at any point. Fort Langley and then under “I think we have a very good modern Walnut Grove. safety record,” said Toth. Kinder Morgan has proposed He said there have been 78 a couple of alternative routes to spills along the TransMountain avoid heavily populated areas.
Proposed pipeline routes through Langley show one that runs closer to Fort Langley and through the Salmon River floodplain, another that veers father west and would come up through the Redwoods Golf Course. Matthew Claxton/Langley Advance
since it was built in the early 1950s. Of those, he said about 70 per cent were at pumping stations and terminals. Another 18 were on the main line, Toth said. If there is a spill, Kinder Morgan holds $750 million in insurance coverage for a cleanup, and it is in the process of possibly increasing that to $1 billion. The pipe must be buried a minimum of 0.9 metres, about three feet, under ground, and it will be deeper under some objects. Much of the tunneling under creeks and other obstacles will be done by boring, rather than digging up the ground, said Toth. That was small comfort to Fort Langley landowner Byron Smith. “The proposed pipeline will bisect our farm,” said the fourth generation Langley farm owner. He is worried about the quality of groundwater, which is used for
both farming and drinking water, and of the coho habitat in the nearby Salmon River, he said. The existing route runs farther west before heading north, but the route as currently proposed would come close to some of the meandering watercourses of the Salmon River floodplain, and would put it closer to the village of Fort Langley than the current pipeline. “It is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when and where it will leak,” said Smith. He’s also concerned the pipe will impact the ability to farm his property. He has drainage ditches deeper than 0.9 metres, Smith said – will they be impacted by the pipeline? He also worried he won’t be able to plow deeper than 30 centimetres, and that he won’t be allowed to cross the pipeline with heavy equipment without prior permission. “We did not ask for this pipe, nor did we want it,” he said. Smith urged the Langley Township council to become an official intervenor in the National Energy Board hearings that will determine the pipeline’s fate. Hearings and regulatory issues are expected to take the next two years, now that Kinder Morgan has officially proposed the route. Almost anyone who may be affected by a project can apply to be an intervenor to an NEB hearing.