The president of Kinder Morgan is casting doubt on a proposed $ 13-billion oil refinery in Kitimat.
David Black’s proposed facility would have to compete with refineries around the continent “where the costs are lower, where you’ve got existing facilities that are designed to handle Canadian crude,” Ian Anderson says.
“In today’s dollars, the costs of building and permitting a brand new refinery will be staggering as compared to existing refineries. North America doesn’t need any new refining capacity.”
Kinder Morgan is planning its own mega-project, a doubling of its current pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby.
He’s choosing his words carefully, but Anderson also sounds skeptical about NDP Leader Adrian Dix’s call for a provincial environmental review of his project.
“I don’t think I’m about to cede jurisdiction federally to the province, but if there’s ways to ensure regulatory efficiency’s maintained, and ensure the voices of British Columbians have an opportunity to participate, which they do in a federal process… . I mean, the province has the opportunity to participate in a federal process, and I would suggest to Mr. Dix that’s probably the place he wants to be.”
He adds Kinder Morgan officials are beginning to reach out to British Columbians whose property might be affected by the pipeline expansion.
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