Trans Mountain ends suit against protestors

Burnaby Mountain protestor claims move is for ‘PR’

By Angela Espinoza, News Editor

On January 30, Trans Mountain dropped its lawsuit against protestors who occupied Burnaby Mountain late last year.

Five protestors were pursued by the company for reportedly costing Kinder Morgan “millions” by preventing work from occurring on the mountain. CBC reported that while two of the protestors had been willing to meet an outside settlement, two others refused unless Trans Mountain “would not revisit the action in the future.” Only one protestor, Allan Dutton, would not comply regardless of an agreement.

The protests took place in November and December 2014, attempting to halt future work exploring Burnaby Mountain as a potential site for the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline. Safety of the local environment as well as the nearby Simon Fraser University were amongst the top reasons for protesting the pipeline, as there are public concerns about a potential leak.

Simon Fraser professor Stephen Collis—one of the five protestors in the suit—told CBC, “I think the whole situation has forced them to start doing some really drastic things on the PR front because they took a beating.”