Complete Trans Mountain Pipeline and Expansion Timeline from 1947 to 2022

UPDATED: JULY 19, 2019

We spent many hours pouring over old records, press releases and news articles to generate this complete time line of all things Trans Mountain.

Many of the entries are linked to specific websites as references.  Entries without link were mostly taken from THIS file sourced from the now defunct BCWaters.org site.

We also have picture gallery of both old and new Trans Mountain images HERE.

 

1947 Feb	Oil discovered near Leduc (near Edmonton) Alberta
1951 Mar	Trans Mountain Pipeline Company Company created by a special act of parliament & owned by Canadian Bechtel & Std Oil
1951 Apr	Special Act of Canadian Parliament to “transport crude oil from Edmonton to Vancouver” was “built to serve the needs of U.S. armed forces”.
1952 Feb	$93M ($884M in 2018 dollars) 718 mile 24″ diameter TransMountain pipeline construction began
1953 Oct	First oil flows through Trans Mountain Pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby ocean tanker dock
1956 Nov	Pumping station drive shaft catches fire near Jasper and destroys the station
1957 Feb	Trans Mountain announces construction of a major supertanker dock in Burrard Inlet BC
1971	BC Legislature formally opposes tanker traffic as a response to many serious spills in other countries
1971 Apr	Trans Mountain pipeline breaches due to landslide and washout near Merritt spilling 150,000 gallons
1971 Apr	Trans Mountain awarded $340K ($2.1M in 2018 dollars) in damages from sawmill that caused washout and spill
1972 Mar	Parliament unanimously blocks West Coast oil tanker traffic as “inimical to Canadian interests”
1972 May	“The Trans Mountain Oil Pipe Line Co” renamed to “Trans Mountain Pipeline Company Limited”
1973	Trans Mountain breach near Ferndale refinery – no hard numbers but reported as small
1974 Nov	Trans Mountain makes its final payment of long term debt for the initial construction of the pipeline
1975 May	Trans Mountain publishes feasibility study for supertankers off Washington State coastline
1975 Jul	Trans Mountain proposes reversing oil flow to bring oil from Washington State to Edmonton to respond to Canadian policy to discontinue all oil exports by 1981
1979 Sept	Trans Mountain applies to NEB to increase tanker transport via double sized vessels rather than using more vessels
1980 Dec	BC NDP file submission to NEB against Trans Mountains request to twin the line
1985 Jan	Trans Mountain owned tank farm near Edmonton leaks about 10,000 barrels
1989 Apr	Trans Mountain President predicts twinning in the near future
1994 Nov	Trans Mountain amalgamates with BC Gas
2003	BC Gas Inc renamed to Terasen
2004 Jun	Parallel pipeline construction between Hinton Ab and Hargreaves BC
2005 Jul	Pipeline breach in Abbotsford caused 13,000 barrels to spill; unrelated contractor put huge weight onto set back area
2005 Nov	Houston based Kinder Morgan buys Terasen for for $5.6B
2007 Mar	Fortis acquires all of BC Gas/Terasen assets except pipelines from Kinder Morgan but keeps the Terasen name until 2011
2007 Jul	Pipeline breach in Burnaby caused 1450 barrels to spill; some of it sprayed on houses; mostly recovered
2008	Parallel pipeline completed increasing capacity form 260,000 to 300,000 barrels per day
2009	Pipeline breach in Burnaby caused 1920 barrels to spill
2012	Pipeline breach in Sumas caused 570 barrels to spill into a containment area
2012 Feb	Kinder Morgan announces public consultations on twinning Trans Mountain
2013 Dec	NEB received Trans Mountain application for twinning to start in 2017 and finish in 2019
2015 Aug	NEB postpones public hearings because it hires one of Kinder Morgans key consultants
2016 Jan 16	Alberta Premier Notley sends formal letter of support for the twinning to the NEB
2016 Jan 27	Trudeau Federal Government states the NEB must consider the greenhouse emissions from extraction, production & transport
2016 May 17	NEB appoints 3 member panel to review Trans Mountain twinning proposal
2016 May 29	NEB approves twinning with 157 conditions
2016 June 15	BC based Squamish Nation files challenge to Trans Mountain expansion with the Federal Court of Appeal
2016 Nov 29	Trudeau Federal Government approves Trans Mountain twinning and Enbridge’s Line 3 but kills Northern Gateway
2017 Jan 11	BC Premier Christy Clarke announces support for twinning and claims revenue sharing agreement will bring $1B to BC
2017 Jan 17	7 out of 51 First Nations oppose the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion
2017 May 15	Province of Alberta granted Intervener Status at Federal Court of Appeal hearings
2017 May 25	Kinder Morgan estimates design, consultation and construction costs to be $7.4B
2017 May 25	Kinder Morgan (Houston) announces formation of Kinder Morgan Canada to fund the twinning
2017 May 30	Kinder Morgan Canada raises $1.75B in IPO
2017 July 18	Newly elected BC Premier John Horgan announces new minority government support with support of Green Party
2017 July 26	BC Attorney General states they will not stall permitting because they are afraid of the lawsuits
2017 Aug 11	Horgan BC Government announces plan to fight Trans Mountain expansion by manipulating First Nations
2017 Fall	City of Burnaby continuously denied and delay permits for frivoulous reasons
2017 Dec 17	NEB allows twinning process to bypass Burnaby’s bylaws
2018 Jan 17	Kinder Morgan states the twinning is now a year behind schedule
2018 Jan 18	NEB announces process to resolve municipal and provincial permitting issues
2018 Jan 30	Horgan BC Government restricts bitumen oil shipments to further stifle Trans Mountain
2018 Mar 23	Federal Court of Appeal dismisses BC challenge to NEB ruling allowing Kinder Morgan to bypass Burnaby bylaws
2018 Mar 27	Burnaby announces a Supreme Court appeal of the March 23 Federal Court of Appeal dismissal of bylaw related appeal
2018 Apr 8	Kinder Morgan announces suspension of Trans Mountain spending until May 31 deadline to have final political approval
2018 May 10	Alberta announces pro-Trans Mountain expansion ad campaign
2018 May 29	Federal Government agrees to buy the existing Trans Mountain line and the expansion project for $4.5B from Kinder Morgan
2018 Jul 9	First Nations announce they want to buy in and own a significant equity stake in Trans Mountain
2018 Aug 23	Canadian Supreme Court dismisses Barnaby’s appeal of the Federal Court of Appeals decision on Burnaby bylaws
2018 Aug 30	Federal Court of Appeal decides the NEB review needed to action First Nation concerns and consider tanker traffic issues
2018 Aug 30	Alberta Premier Notley demands appeal to the Supreme Court
2018 Aug 31	Trans Mountain pipeline and expansion ownership changes to the new formed Trans Mountain Corporation
2018 Sep 7	Trudeau Federal Government publicly rejects a wide range of politically motivated investigations and queries
2018 Sep 21	Alberta Premier Notley launches second round of pro-Trans Mountain pipeline expansion advertising
2018 Sep 26	NEB announces it will hold consultations on Trans Mountain related oil tanker traffic to be completed by Feb 22 2019
2018 Sep 26	Trans Mountain CEO expects Trans Mountain construction to start in 2019
2018 Oct 3	Trudeau Federal Government says Supreme Court challenge will only slow down the Trans Mountain approval process
2018 Oct 3	Trudeau Federal Government appoints former Judge to oversee additional First Nations consultation on Trans Mountain
2018 Oct 21	Burnaby elects new Mayor that is opposed to Trans Mountain personally but will not attempt to block it
2018 Nov 21	Federal Government quietly shows Trans Mountain pipeline earns $200M /year in the ‘Fall Economic Statement’
2018 Dec 4	Trudeau apologizes to First Nations for Trans Mountain consultation failures

UPDATED: July 19, 2019

2019 Jan 15	100 First Nations groups meet in Calgary to discuss purchase of Trans Mountain
2019 Jan 21	Trans Mountain submits report to NEB proposing three new mitigation measures to protect killer whales
2019 Jan 31	Trans Mountain announces the existing pipeline is 32% oversubscribed
2019 Feb 22	NEB releases Reconsideration report for Trans Mountain Expansion Project
2019 Mar 18	First Nations group announces $6.8B offer for 51% of Trans Mountain
2019 Apr 16	Jason Kenny’s UCP Party wins massive majority government in Alberta on promises to get pipeline built
2019 Apr 16	Kenny repeats “we’ll happily give (B.C) a carbon-free Vancouver by 2020 (by turning off oil shipments)”
2019 Apr 18	Trudeau Government delays finally approval to allow for more Indigenous consultations
2019 Apr 30	Kenny proclaims law to give Alberta the ability to shut down oil shipments to BC
2019 May 3	Canadian Supreme Court dismisses another City of Burnaby appeal
2019 May 24	BC court unanimously decides BC cannot restrict contents of inter-provincial pipelines
2019 Jun 19	TransMountain CEO says construction could start in September 2019
2019 Jul 3	NEB approves Westridge dock premium surcharges
2019 Jul 3	Another First Nations group expresses interest in buying majority share of Trans Mountain
2019 Jul 4	Trans Mountain requests NEB approval to begin terminal work in August 2019
2019 Jul 19 2019 Summer	NEB reinstates all previously approved permits… full steam ahead PROJECTED: Permits are re-issued as NEB changes satisfy Federal Court of Appeal August 2018 requirements
2019 Summer	SPECULATION: Trudeau government announces agreement in principle to sell Trans Mountain (before fall election)
2019 Fall	PROJECTED: Shovels in the ground
2022 Summer	PROJECTED: Trans Mountain pipeline expansion complete

 

Take a look at our Trans Mountain image gallery HERE.