This briefing note summarizes some of the legal risks facing Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Expansion Project. It includes a summary of ongoing litigation and a discussion about additional legal risks, including developments in Canadian, International and Indigenous law.
Potential investors should note that legal challenges similar to those filed against the Project resulted in the cancellation of Federal approval of the Enbridge Northern Gateway project in 2016.
The lack of treaties and settled land claims throughout much of the province British Columbia, along with the guarantee of rights in the Canadian Constitution, has resulted in a number of First Nations’ legal challenges starting in BC and ending in the Supreme Court of Canada, largely in favour of the First Nations.