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Kinder Morgan pipeline opponents set up new base camp

Pipeline opponents have vacated Burnaby Mountain but are now camping out at the entrance to Kinder Morgan's Westridge Marine Terminal.
westridge-camp
Sergei Van Hardeveld, at right, is one of the pipeline opponents camping out 24/7 at Kinder Morgan's Westridge Marine Terminal.  Photograph By Jennifer Moreau

Pipeline opponents have vacated Burnaby Mountain but are now camping out at the entrance to Kinder Morgan's Westridge Marine Terminal.

A handful of anti-pipeline activist have been staying in a tent just a stone's throw from the terminal gates on Bayview Drive.

"We're here to observe and bear witness to what's happening," said Victoria resident Sergei Van Hardeveld.

Van Hardeveld, who was part of the original Kinder Morgan protests on Burnaby Mountain, said people have been at the new camp 24 hours a day for a couple of weeks.

Their large tent is stocked with food and bedding and has crudely fashioned windows with views of the Burrard Inlet. The campers have mostly observed tankers filling up at the terminal and workers driving to the site.

Van Hardeveld is opposed to the pipeline project because he's concerned about climate change. The campers say they will stay till Kinder Morgan drops its plan to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline, which the National Energy Board is currently reviewing.

"It's a concern because it's continuing a path we can't continue as a species," he said. "Fossil fuel extraction is not compatible with our lives."

The tent is set up just outside the Kinder Morgan property line, on the grass beside Bayview Drive. 

Meanwhile, the camp on Centennial Way is mostly gone apart from a pile of a few leftover items. City staff removed truckloads of trash following the 10-day standoff with police and Kinder Morgan crews in late November.

"We have done a lot of cleanup in the area, we've been in with our crews picking up any sort of debris and stuff in the area," said Don Hunter, assistant director of the city's parks and recreation department.

Burnaby Now