The City of Burnaby is trying one more time to stop the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion.
Staff have asked for leave to appeal at the Supreme Court of Canada, following a lower court ruling in March that upheld a National Energy Board decision that said Burnaby’s bylaws are not enough to stop the project.
Led by Mayor Derek Corrigan, the city has spent months trying to fight pipeline operator Kinder Morgan through its preliminary plan approval and tree cutting bylaws, insisting that the company does not have the right to proceed without Burnaby permission.
Hundreds of pipeline protesters have been arrested for breaching a court order stating they must stay from work at the Burnaby terminal. More than 150 are facing criminal charges.
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The Trans Mountain project would twin an existing pipeline that extends from central Alberta to a refinery in Burnaby.
The leave to appeal filed Wednesday asks the country’s top court to decide if municipal bylaws can be used to stop an inter-provincial project, as well as whether the National Energy Board has the independent power to dismiss municipal bylaws.
“We believe that even federal pipelines should follow normal rules within municipalities, and that the time taken for regulatory review should be part of the process,” said Corrigan in a news release.
“The court system should be the body that decides whether or not this is fair and just. The Federal Court of Appeal refused to do so – and they did so without providing any reasons.”
