Vancouver City Council is pondering a new bylaw that could be a "game changer" when it comes to oil pipelines running to and through the city.
Mayor Gregor Robertson says the bylaw, if passed, would require oil carriers to have massive liability insurance in case of a spill, "Well, the maximum that is provided for under Canadian law is 1.2 billion. But you know, we have seen 10's of billions of dollars of impact in the Gulf Coast. If a spill happened here in Vancouver and impacted Stanley Park, the costs are massive and we want to be sure the industry was totally responsible for that; and that would be many of billions of dollars of a worst case scenario."
Robertson says it is a "gap in the system" that all the potential costs of a big oil spill wouldn't be covered by current liability insurance rates.
Robertson also says Kinder Morgan is robbing the city of a voice by holding hearings into the twinning of the Trans-Mountain Pipeline in Calgary.