Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson is proposing a multibillion-dollar safety net that he hopes will make Kinder Morgan think twice about plans to expand its Trans-Mountain pipeline.
A new bylaw could be written requiring oil companies to carry insurance covering every cent of cleanup costs from any spill, Robertson said.
Canadian law currently sets spill liability at $1.2 billion dollars, but that is a “gap” in the system, and a new bylaw could require bllions more in insurance coverage, he said.
Kinder Morgan wants to twin its pipeline from Alberta, across southern B.C., through Kamloops, to a refinery and port in Burnaby, with the doubled output being shipped by tanker through Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet to customers overseas.
