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Matsqui First Nation drops pipeline objections

Submission to National Energy Board says band has come to "mutual benefits agreement" with Trans Mountain.
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The Matsqui First Nation say they have no objections to Kinder Morgan's pipeline crossing their land.

One of the local stakeholders involved in Kinder Morgan Canada’s plans to expand its Trans Mountain Pipeline has dropped its concerns involving the project.

In a letter posted recently online but written in October, Chief Alice McKay wrote that the Matsqui First Nation was consenting to the pipeline application, “subject to the terms and conditions of a mutual benefits agreement signed with Trans Mountain.”

Details of the agreement were not disclosed, and McKay didn’t return a News request for comment.

The band had previously submitted an impact assessment that found a spill from the pipeline – which crosses a corner of the band’s land, but runs through 38 kilometres of its traditional territory – would have a dramatic economic, cultural and psychological effect on members. But the report also suggested that locating the pipeline off of the reserve wouldn’t change those impacts.