The city of Coquitlam is requesting that Kinder Morgan compensate the municipality for all additional costs related to the proposed twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
According to a staff report, the expanded pipeline will cost approximately $432,000 per year in additional operating and capital costs to the city but it will only receive $177,000 annually in property taxes, based on 2014 rates, with an additional $76,000 in taxes from the company going to schools, transit and BC Assessment taxes.
That leaves a $255,000 gap each year, an amount the city said it expects the Trans Mountain to cover.
“We want to ensure that Coquitlam and its taxpayers are not negatively affected by the construction and operations of the Trans Mountain pipeline,” said Dana Soong, the city’s manager of utility programs.
There are things the company can do during the construction process to mitigate the costs to the city, Soong added. For example, if the pipeline is installed deeper underground, it will reduce the amount of conflicts city construction crews will have when future infrastructure upgrades and road work are required. Soong said the city is also hoping the company will ease its permitting requirements for construction work that takes place near the pipeline.
Some environmental concerns were also raised by staff.
In a report, the city states that construction crews should stay out of Colony Farm Regional Park, noting that any work there would have a negative impact on the habitat.
The document also notes that Trans Mountain is proposing to excavate fish-bearing streams in Coquitlam, some of which were recently affected by Highway 1 construction.
“Trans Mountain should be required to avoid any disturbance to streams in Coquitlam, or alternatively to provide additional habitat compensation to enhance stream habitat,” said the report.
While city council voted unanimously in favour of receiving the staff report, Coun. Bonita Zarrillo said it did not go far enough.
She put forward a motion asking city staff to study what costs Coquitlam has incurred from the existing pipeline since it was built in the 1950s and look at ways of recouping some of those funds.
“It is going to be disruptive in an area that has already had a lot of disruptions,” said Coun. Chris Wilson, who supported Zarrillo’s motion. “It is important for our residents to understand that these are costs for our city and we should be doing whatever we can to recoup those costs.”
The rest of council disagreed.
Coun. Dennis Marsden said the city should not be retroactively charging companies that worked within the parameters that were set out in the past.
His comments were echoed by Coun. Terry O’Neill, who called any move to charge Kinder Morgan for costs incurred by the city in the past “the epitome of unfairness.”
“We all know that retroactive law is bad law at any level of government,” he said.
gmckenna@tricitynews.com
