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VICTORIA — B.C.’s premier is vowing to continue legal challenges against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, in what may now be mostly symbolic opposition to a project Ottawa has again approved.

John Horgan said he’s disappointed the federal government gave another green light Tuesday to a plan to twin the existing pipeline from near Edmonton to Burnaby, which will triple capacity to 890,000 barrels a day.

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B.C. has maintained an oil spill on the ocean from increased tanker traffic would be catastrophic, though it has also acknowledged it lacks the power to regulate or ban tankers.

While B.C. will continue two court challenges, Horgan said the province will grant any lawfully requested permits to start construction on the twinned pipeline this summer. “Although I regret the federal government’s decision, it is within their authority to make that decision,” he said.

The premier did not rule out throwing the B.C. government’s support behind future First Nations or environmental challenges, but said he’d consider it on a case-by-case basis.