The expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline in Canada by the multibillion-dollar Houston firm Kinder Morgan is, to say the least, controversial. One reason activists have been protesting the $6.5-billion expansion of the line to carry Alberta tar sands oil to Vancouver's Burrard Inlet has been concern over possible spills.

So it did not help instill public confidence when Canada's National Energy Board on January 16, 2015, ruled that Kinder Morgan did not have to make public its emergency response plans for spills and fires. Kinder Morgan claimed the plans were too "sensitive."

Eoin Madden of the Wilderness Committee, one of the groups that has intervened in the case, said the ruling undermined people's belief in the fairness and integrity of the NEB's decision process.

• "National Energy Board Rules Kinder Morgan Can Keep Pipeline Emergency Plans Secret, Weakens Faith in Process," [2] DeSmogBlog, January 19, 2015, by Carol Linnitt.