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“The city of Vancouver is the largest port city in the country and we have a lot of coastline. We are already being impacted by changing sea level,” Johnston said.

“We are directly impacted by the burning of these fossil fuels and we believe that does need to be taken into account – the cost of that and the implications of that.”

The Trans Mountain project faces some staunch opposition at the end of the line in Metro Vancouver.

The city of Burnaby fired its own salvo Thursday in its dispute with Kinder Morgan over access to city land.

The company would prefer to bore its pipeline through the mountain, rather than follow the current pipeline route through residential and business areas but Burnaby has refused access.

Earlier this week the National Energy Board released a decision saying that, under federal laws, Kinder Morgan doesn’t need permission to access the land that is home to Simon Fraser University and a vast nature preserve.

Burnaby responded by saying the energy board decision was limited to its rights as a private landowner — not its jurisdiction as a regulator.

“Accordingly, we wish to advise you that Burnaby regards their bylaws and regulatory policies over public lands, parks and conservancies as continuing to have effect,” Bruce Rose, the city solicitor, wrote in a letter to Kinder Morgan Canada.

The company will have to complete an application for access and will get a decision “as soon as practicable.”

Proceeding without city permission could lead to charges for breaching city bylaws, the letter warned.

The dispute has already caused a seven-month delay in the regulatory process.

The board panel will not have its final report to cabinet until Jan. 25, 2016. Under the original schedule, the report was due July 2, 2015.