Kinder Morgan is prepared to ante up $800,000 in scholarships for British Columbia students, contingent on approval of its controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, but students at one of the schools are saying the company can keep its money.
Kinder Morgan is offering Kwantlen Polytechnic University $15,000 per year over 20 years for apprenticeship and trades scholarships, as well as a new environmental protection lab. But Allison Gonzales, president of the Kwantlen Student Association, said the pipeline project “contradicts Kwantlen’s mandate for sustainability,” CBC reported late last month.
“Quite frankly those scholarships aren’t massive,” she said. “Although its going towards the environmental protection program, I’ve already had students tell me there’s absolutely no way they will take that money.”
Mendoza notes that “the $5.4-billion project has come under fire from environmental activists and First Nations groups, who say it would increase the possibility of oil spills, risking threats to the environment and wildlife.”
Last November, 53 people were arrested on Burnaby Mountain after protesting the project. “I’m going to turn around and walk up this hill and be the best citizen I can be,” said Simon Fraser University biochemist Lynn Quarmby, who faced a multi-million-dollar lawsuit from Kinder Morgan. That month, 40-year energy executive Marc Eliesen withdrew from the project review process, declaring it fraudulent.
