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The negative impact from the expansion when it increases pump prices for B.C. residents was brought forward by interveners during the review. Certainly most Canadians expect that an increase in the retail price of petroleum products — when the project represents no benefit to the local market — would be considered by the board as a “cost” and this cost would be factored into its decision. It was not.

Kinder Morgan acknowledged that higher “gasoline and other petroleum prices facing end users is of interest to the public” but concluded they were are not a public interest concern the board need consider. The board agreed.

The cost to deliver light crude oil or refined petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel to Burnaby along the existing Trans Mountain pipeline is about $2.50 a barrel. We know this because Kinder Morgan must file the tolls it charges — by product and delivery destination — with the National Energy Board.

Kinder Morgan has always intended to help pay for Trans Mountain’s expansion by raising the tolls charged on its existing line even though the project is being built solely to serve foreign markets. This means that when the expansion is built, the tolls charged to deliver the same barrel of gasoline to B.C. along the existing line will more than double. This information is also available from the NEB.

If Kinder Morgan relied on toll charges on the new line to fully pay for the capital and operating cost of the new line it is unlikely the project would be commercially viable. Instead, motorists and other users of petroleum products in B.C. will be relied on to subsidize the expansion through the retail price they pay.