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Three environmental and public advocacy groups are calling on the B.C. Liberals to return hundreds of thousands of dollars donated by Kinder Morgan and its affiliated companies prior to the approval of their controversial pipeline expansion project.

The groups — Stand.earth, Dogwood Initiative, and Leadnow — say the party’s acceptance of more than $770,000 in political donations from Kinder Morgan and affiliated companies and lobbyists casts a cloud of suspicion over Premier Christy Clark’s decision to give the $6.8-billion project the green light in January.

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“(The Liberals) have already accepted so much money from the pipeline company they can’t ask voters to trust them until they return the funds,” said Sven Biggs, a climate and energy campaigner at Stand.earth, formerly ForestEthics.

The groups have identified $771,168 in donations to the B.C. Liberals from Kinder Morgan and related companies based on Elections B.C. records. The figure could be higher if lobbyists associated with the project also made donations under their names.