Kinder Morgan suspends 'non-essential activities' on Trans Mountain Pipeline

Notley issues another warning to B.C. Kinder Morgan has announced it will suspend work on the Trans Mountain pipeline, but Premier Notley isn’t sitting idly with the decision.

Kinder Morgan Canada says it is suspending all non-essential activities and related spending on the Trans Mountain Expansion Project in the face of continued opposition from the B.C. government.

The company issued a release on Sunday saying that it would be focussing all its efforts on consulting with stakeholders to reach an agreement on May 31 that would allow Trans Mountain work to proceed.

Kinder Morgan says the focus in discussions will be in two areas: clarity going forward, particularly on the ability to build the pipeline in B.C. and adequate protection for its shareholders.

Trans Mountain has been federally approved but has faced continued resistance in British Columbia, particularly since the Horgan government came into power in June 2017, the company says.

"A company cannot resolve differences between governments. While we have succeeded in all legal challenges to date, a company cannot litigate its way to an in-service pipeline amidst jurisdictional differences between governments," said Kinder Morgan's chairman and CEO Steve Kean in a release.

"The fact remains that a substantial portion of the Project must be constructed through British Columbia, and since the change in government in June 2017, that government has been clear and public in its intention to use 'every tool in the toolbox' to stop the Project. The uncertainty created by BC has not been resolved but instead has escalated into an inter-governmental dispute."

Speaking from the Legislature on Sunday, Premier Rachel Notley again called on the federal government to do more in regards to the issue and B.C.'s resistance to the federally-approved project.

"Today, Minister Carr has called on the government of British Columbia to suspend all threats related to the Trans Mountain expansion. Those are strong words, but we need more."

Notley promised that Alberta would be bringing forward more legislation in the coming days to give Alberta the power it needs to bring serious economic consequences on B.C.

She says that she is not ruling out the possibility that Alberta will take a more public role in the matter, which means that her government would take steps to become a shareholder in the Trans Mountain Expansion Project.

"That can look a lot of different ways, the form that that would take. We have been doing work already on what that would look like. All I will say at this point is if we need investors who put money on the table to be deeply confident, what I am telling you is that there are investors out there who would put money on the table who will be deeply confident."

She says discussions on that option as well as many others are still ongoing, but she remains optimistic that the project will be built no matter the number of hurdles are put up in its path.

"Never count Alberta out. This pipeline will be built."