Pass the collection plate: Church fined $14000 for causing COVID outbreak – Western Standard

RCMP have arrested five people for chaining themselves and destroying property at TMX construction sites near Kamloops.

RCMP said about 12:40 p.m. on Thursday they were called after demonstrators had gathered at a Trans Mountain (TMX) drill site on Mission Flats Road in Kamloops, and were blocking work trucks from driving through the facility gate.

Officials talked to the demonstrators but three refused to move away from the gate; a 69-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman and a 57-year-old woman who had tied her arm to the fence with a zap strap.

Officers read a B.C .Supreme Court injunction to the three individuals who remained at the gate and they were arrested for allegedly being in civil contempt of the court order issued on June 1, 2018.

A second group of demonstrators had gathered and were blocking an active work site on the south mountain slope, said RCMP.

A 43-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly breaching the court-ordered injunction after she refused to leave and attached herself to a bulldozer.

All four arrested were transported to Kamloops RCMP Detachment for processing and released on condition. They are scheduled to appear in court on January 20, 2021.

A fifth individual, a 32-year-old woman, was observed destroying survey stakes across the road from the drill site, and was subsequently arrested by Kamloops RCMP for Mischief. She was released without charges.

Trans Mountain said in June, a workforce of 30-50 people will be working in Kamloops and this will increase to approximately 600 people at peak construction in the late summer or early fall.

The company said construction spending in the Kamloops area is expected to be more than $450 million over the next two years with additional workforce spending of more than $40 million for goods and services at local businesses.

After expansion, Trans Mountains annual contribution to the city of Kamloops in taxes will increase by $1.2 million to $2.8 million.

The feds bought the Trans Mountain pipeline for $4.5 billion in May, 2018, after Kinder Morgan, pulled out because of political and environmental opposition.

In February, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the latest attempt by four B.C. indigenous groups to quash the Government of Canadas approval of the TMX clearing the way for the 1,150-km, 890,000 bbl/d line between Edmonton and Burnaby.

The cost to complete the project, from Alberta to the lower mainland, now stands at $12.6 billion.

Construction along the entire route should be complete in 2022.

The original Trans Mountain Pipeline was built in 1953and the expansion is essentially a twinning of this existing 1,150-kilometre route.

The system will go from approximately 300,000 barrels per day to 890,000 barrels per day.

A reminder that demonstrators have the right to peaceful, lawful and safe protest and companies have a lawful right to complete their mandated work. The RCMP is working hard to protect both of these rights and ensure all parties and public are kept safe, said Cpl. Madonna Saunderson.

Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standarddnaylor@westernstandardonline.comTWITTER:Twitter.com/nobby7694

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Pass the collection plate: Church fined $14000 for causing COVID outbreak - Western Standard