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VIDEO: Green groups applaud NDP for Kinder Morgan comments

Adrian Dix argues that "British Columbians are not willing to trade our coasts and wilderness" in a campaign ad posted Monday to YouTube.

Some of B.C.'s leading environmental groups are applauding NDP Leader Adrian Dix for stating Monday that his party doesn't support plans by Kinder Morgan to turn Vancouver into "a major oil export port."

"We applaud the NDP for standing up for the interests of British Columbians," Eric Swanson, campaign director for the Dogwood Initiative, said in a release. "Proposals to bring hundreds of oil export tankers to our coast are not in the best interests of British Columbians."

The Houston, Texas-based Kinder Morgan proposes to roughly triple capacity on a pipeline it operates between Alberta and Vancouver. It would result in much more oil tankers moving through Burrard Inlet.

"I don't see that transformation as being the right approach for our economy or our port," Dix reportedly said at a campaign stop earlier Monday in Kamloops.

"We do not expect Vancouver to become a major oil export port, as appears to be suggested" by Kinder Morgan, Dix said.

Environmentalists have for months put pressure on B.C.'s political parties to oppose the Kinder Morgan proposal.

Today, ForestEthics campaign director Ben West said in a release that Dix's comments are "a fantastic way… to commemorate Earth Day."

The NDP also won plaudits Monday from prominent environmentalist Tzeporah Berman, who stated that the party widely expected to form B.C.'s next government has "committed to defend our coast."

BC Liberal Environment Minister Terry Lake, meanwhile, reportedly said the NDP's green policies are "all over the map," and "will send chills down the spines of investors."

Geoff Dembicki reports for The Tyee.


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