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B.C. files new legal action against TransMountain pipeline

Province tries to uphold City of Burnaby bylaws, provoking Alberta
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Oil tanker approaches Westridge Terminal in Burnaby, where TransMountain pipeline has delivered crude oil and refined fuels since the 1950s. (Kinder Morgan Canada)

The B.C. government has ratcheted up its efforts to stop the expansion of the TransMountain crude oil and fuel pipeline, a move that seems certain to further inflame trade relations with Alberta.

The John Horgan government has launched its second legal action against the project, seeking leave to appeal a National Energy Board ruling against the City of Burnaby’s efforts to use its bylaws to stop work.

Environment Minister George Heyman announced Saturday the court action seeks to overturn a Dec. 7, 2017 ruling related to construction work at Kinder Morgan Canada’s Westridge Marine Terminal.

“The Province’s position is that the NEB erred by too broadly defining federal jurisdiction over interprovincial pipelines,” Heyman said in a statement. “The Federal Court of Appeal will now consider the application.”

RELATED: National Energy Board approves pipeline tunnel

The NDP minority government formed last summer quickly applied as an intervenor in another case in October, where the Federal Court of Appeal was asked to overturn the NEB approval of the project, which twins the pipeline that has run from northern Alberta to Burnaby and U.S. refineries since 1954.