Kinder Morgan’s (NYSE:KMI) proposed Trans Mountain pipeline project is asking the National Energy Board (NEB) to postpone a deadline to respond to intervenors, citing difficulty responding to the more than 10,000 questions it’s received.
Trans Mountain is due to respond to information requests by June 4, however, the company announced May 28 it filed a motion with NEB to push the deadline three weeks to June 27.
“Because of the large number of information requests posed, Trans Mountain simply cannot respond with full and adequate responses,” the company said in a statement.
Kinder Morgan wants to spend $5.4 billion twinning the pipeline that runs from northern Alberta to the Westridge Terminals in Burnaby. The expansion would boost capacity from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels per day.
The company said the June 4 deadline would only allow them to complete responses to about half of the 117 intervenors that have submitted questions.
Meanwhile, Kinder Morgan is also adjusting part of the proposed route for the pipeline and now wants it to go through Burnaby Mountain as opposed to running along the Lougheed Highway.
The company did not provide an official press release over the adjusted route but instead updated its website May 26 with an interactive map showing the change.
It also added a blog post saying “there are some pipeline corridors submitted in our application that are no longer being considered. Trans Mountain has officially documented these changes with the National Energy Board (NEB) through the regulatory process.”
Trans Mountain’s senior project director Greg Toth said in a statement the company has been consistent with information it has provided.
“But in most cases, there is nothing new or different from the information filed in the application or what we have been communicating at most recent route refinement workshops and open houses,” he said.
“The route from the Fraser River into Burnaby has been revised as we have switched to the highway-rail corridor and completely taken the proposed Lougheed highway routing option off the table.”
