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His first protest lasted 16 hours before he was removed, but Stand Earth spokesman Sven Biggs says the professional mountain climber has enough supplies to remain in his new perch for a week.

Stand Earth says about 230 people were arrested last year for violating an injunction against protests at the marine terminal and other nearby infrastructure linked to the Trans Mountain Pipeline.

Photo by NICK PROCAYLO / PNG

In February, the National Energy Board recommended that the federal government approve the $9.3-billion pipeline expansion that would twin the existing 1,150-kilometre pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby, built in 1953, and nearly triple capacity. Tanker traffic from the Burnaby terminal on the Burrard Inlet is estimated to increase from 60 tankers a year to more than 400.

The Alberta government says it needs the extra pipeline capacity so it can export more crude oil to Asia and beyond. The B.C. government and the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby are opposed, due mostly to the risk of an environmental disaster and the impact on marine life and some First Nations bands, but also because of the economics of the project. Bitumen is expensive to extract from the oilsands and demand from Asia has so far been sporadic.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to green light the project in the coming weeks.

“(The protest) is a message to Justin Trudeau and his cabinet who are right now considering whether or not to re-approve the pipeline. If they do that, I think they are going to see a lot more actions like this mornings’,” Biggs said.

— with files from David Carrigg and Canadian Press

sbrown@postmedia.com