Three environmental groups are seeking protective action from the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) to safeguard endangered species and sensitive wetlands threatened by the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) construction at Bridal Falls near Chilliwack.
A was fired off to the CER on Aug. 6, for what The Pipe Up Network and others allege is 鈥渋llegal habitat destruction.鈥�
The CER should be enforcing conditions of the expansion the environmentalists argue, but in the past decade, several Auditor General reports have confirmed 鈥渇ailures of enforcement鈥� by the federal regulator.
鈥淭his small area is important for wildlife and people, and its value is even more crucial now that the neighbouring lands were clearcut,鈥� said Lynn Perrin of the Pipe Up Network in a release.
In addition to nesting birds, the wetland area between Chilliwack and Popkum are home to amphibians such as the threatened coastal giant salamander.
鈥淭he area also has mature trees and rare species of plants, all crucial to threatened barn owls and other birds,鈥� Perrin said.
A TMX official stressed last month the company strives to protect nesting birds and other species with mitigation efforts.
鈥淢itigation measures include the use of non-intrusive nest sweeps, and the establishment of species-specific buffer zones around active nests to ensure our construction activities have the least impact possible on nesting birds,鈥� the TMX spokesperson told The Progress. 鈥淚f nesting activity is identified during the surveys, a protective buffer is installed.鈥�
But some complaints were also filed this spring about the impacts of land-clearing ahead of construction.
鈥淭ran Mountain鈥檚 contractors cleared an area of migratory and nesting birds and rare amphibians in contravention of legislation,鈥� said Peter Vranjkovic of Protect the Planet. 鈥淚 filed a complaint with the CER about this on July 4, but am not optimistic anything will change.鈥�
Part of the challenge is that the TMX pipeline is owned by the same people who control the energy regulator, he said.
鈥淥ur groups have hired independent biologists to determine what endangered species are on the site, but we have not been able to access the site because the site is covered by an injunction,鈥� Vranjkovic said. 鈥淲e were advised in writing yesterday by Trans Mountain that our independent biologists will not be allowed on site.鈥�
Protect the Planet launched a petition last month asking B.C. Minister Katrine Conroy to rescind the permit given to Trans Mountain to salvage threatened coastal giant salamanders in the area 鈥� a technique only meant to be used as a last resort.
鈥淭he permit should not have been issued because it is not a last resort,鈥� Vranjkovic said.
Their already has more than 600 signatures.
TMX contractors were set to clear the area between South Popkum Road and the Bridal Falls Forest Service Road but a local resident managed to have the work halted, then brought in the Community Nest Finding Network (CNFN) for further assistance. After CNFN located and documented active bird nests, a biologist was brought in to confirm their presence until the young birds fledge.
The existing pipeline runs through Chilliwack on the diagonal, crossing Highway 1 near Rosedale, and as it crosses Sardis it runs through the Kinkora Golf Course, crosses Vedder Road on Tzeachten land, then runs through the back schoolyards of Vedder Middle School and Watson Elementary School. The pipeline crosses the Vedder River east of the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve and runs under the Browne Creek Wetlands before continuing to Yarrow and to Abbotsford.
鈥攚ith files from Paul Henderson
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