Kinder Morgan confident it can meet NEB recommendations

Kinder Morgan Canada says it is satisfied with the recommendations made by the National Energy Board.

• NEB approves Trans Mountain pipeline with 157 conditions
• Why the Trans Mountain expansion is too politicized

The national regulator gave its support to the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline if 157 conditions are met.

"It was a very thorough and rigorous process," said Ian Anderson, president of Kinder Morgan Canada.

"There'sa lot of work still to be done to satisfy [the recommendations]. I've got the full confidence that we'll be able to satisfy those." said Anderson.

Kinder Morgan must meet the conditions in order for the company to be able to construct and operate the pipeline.

The NEB concluded the Trans Mountain expansion will provide several economic advantages for Canada such as access to more export markets, thousands of construction jobs and increased government revenue.

The federal government has seven months to make its decision; and it will take the NEB's decision into account in additionto considerations about upstream greenhouse gases, the views of First Nations and other communities along the route.

Oil spill concerns

The Mayor of Vancouver voiced his opposition of the pipeline because of concerns of an oil spill.

• Big oil vs. big whale: Will pipeline trump iconic orca?

"Catastrophic spill is obviously the concern everyone here on the west coast has," said Mayor Gregor Robertson.

"The risk of that increases dramatically if we have seven times the number of oil tankers coming into the very tricky harbour here in Vancouver."

Anderson said Kinder Morgan works hard every day to avoid such events and that the company has invested heavily in managing tanker traffic.

"The volume of traffic goes up but with the hundred million dollars we're going to invest in capabilities and jobs and tug operations, the risk in fact does not go up from where it was before," he said.

'Always a risk'

Anderson acknowledgedthat everything inherently has a risk.

"There is always a risk. Anything we're going to do in the society is going to have risk attached to it," he said.

"I think the diligence and how we prepare for those unlikely events and how we're ready and [in] position to mitigate is where society looks to have a safety net," he said.

"The public should take comfort, in fact, in the rigour with which the NEB reviewed the evidence," he said.

With files from the CBC's The Early Edition and Claudia Goodine.

To hear the full story listen to the audio labelled:Kinder Morgan responds to NEB recommendations