Town Hall Looks at Local Alternatives to Kinder Morgan Pipeline as Company's “House of Cards” Revealed
Tsleil Waututh Nation and ForestEthics Advocacy host special event
Vancouver, BC, September 11, 2013 — Kinder Morgan will be touting its oil tankers and pipeline plans in North Vancouver this week, but the US-based energy giant is under fire after a scathing Wall Street investment report called the corporation a “house of cards” and urged short-selling of its stock.
A 50-page report released Tuesday by Hedgeye Risk Management stated that Kinder Morgan was overvalued and that the company’s “high-level business strategy is to starve its pipelines and related infrastructure of routine maintenance spending.” (See the full report here.) The Houston, Texas based multinational corporation is expected to officially file their application to build a new Trans Mountain pipeline — which would mean up to 420 tankers a year transporting tar sands crude through Vancouver’s narrow harbour — with the National Energy Board (NEB) this fall.
"This latest expose of Kinder Morgan’s systemic slashing of maintenance spending is alarming for everyone here in B.C., especially in the context of recent spills and of the fact that this company origins were as a division of Enron, the infamous corporate House of Cards,” said Ben West, ForestEthics Advocacy's Tar Sands Campaign Director. “People in North Vancouver and all over B.C. should be concerned about this."
ForestEthics Advocacy and the Tsleil Waututh Nation’s Sacred Trust Initiative are hosting a special Town Hall forum on Wednesday, September 11, 7pm at the Tsleil Waututh Community Centre at 3010 Sleil Waututh Road, North Vancouver.
The Tsleil Waututh First Nation are strongly opposed to the Kinder Morgan pipeline and oil tanker expansion plans that run through their traditional territory and waters of Burrard Inlet. The Tsleil Waututh own a wind turbine company and have been leaders on alternative energy. “The Tsleil Waututh are walking the talk. We’re excited that they’re hosting this Town Hall forum in their community to help bring the broader community in to this conversation,” said West.
The town hall meeting will feature University of British Columbia professor Patrick Condon, author of 7 Rules For Sustainable Communities: Design Strategies for a Post Carbon World, and Marc Lee, a senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
The town hall is the first of two nights of Kinder Morgan public forums. On Thursday, Sept. 12, North Vancouver District is hosting a meeting featuring Kinder Morgan representatives and opponents from Tsleil Waututh and the Georgia Strait Alliance.
“We are hoping our town hall meeting is part of changing the debate around these proposed projects. Folks need to understand that we really do have better options than these pipelines. Not only is stopping the Kinder Morgan pipeline the right thing to do for the climate and the local environment but the alternatives result in better jobs and healthier, happier communities,” said West.
“We’re not just saying ‘No’ to reckless tar sands pipelines like Kinder Morgan is proposing, we’re saying ‘Yes’ to alternative energy, better rapid transit, green homes and green jobs we can all be proud of."
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For more information contact:
Ben West, Tar Sands Campaign Director, ForestEthics Advocacy – (604) 710-5340