How much did pipeline protests cost Burnaby Mountain?

One year on since the mass anti-pipeline arrests on Burnaby Mountain, and there is still no clear cost for the overall policing operation that was necessary during a more than ten day stand-off.

Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan says the city did not have to pay the entire bill.

According to reports from Burnaby Now, the total cost of the Burnaby Mountain police presence has only been partially paid locally.

Corrigan said the city has only paid for Burnaby’s officers.

Kinder Morgan has not made any payments for the policing costs, according to Corrigan.

According to Kinder Morgan spokesperson Ali Hounsell, the company has never been approached or asked directly to pay for policing costs.

Documents acquired by 'Burnaby Now' suggest that the total for what appears to be Royal Canadian Mounted Police office staff (which includes people handling communications, records and the switchboard, for example) is CAN$20 591 over several days.

Meals, coffee, snacks, water and other expenses totalled more than CAN$10 000.

The running total for police, staff and all expenses appears to peak CAN$510 675.82.

Last autumn, police were on Burnaby Mountain to enforce a court-ordered injunction against protesters opposed to the Kinder Morgan pipeline. The order forbade people from interfering while the company conducted survey work for a new pipeline route. The operation was roughly 10 days long, although police were present on the mountain before the injunction began on 17 November. More than 100 people were arrested, but all charges were later dropped because Kinder Morgan had provided incorrect GPS co-ordinates when it asked for the original court order and the measurements were so inaccurate that the site was outside the area covered by the injunction.

Edited from various sources by Elizabeth Corner

Sources: Burnaby Now, City News

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/27112015/how-much-did-pipeline-protests-cost-burnaby-mountain/