Trans Mountain Route Changes Said Favored by Native Tribes

Route and construction changes have ended the second British Columbia (BC) native rights dispute that threatened to delay the C$12.6 billion ($10 billion) Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion (TMX).

Semá:th (Sumas) First Nation dropped years-long opposition after TMX re-engineered the project leg across tribal territory near the U.S. border in the Fraser Valley at Abbotsford, 50 miles east of Vancouver.

The alterations shift the route of the pipeline and use a low-impact construction technique, direct pipe installation, to avoid disturbing an outdoor native temple named Lightning Rock.

The site is believed to be a burial ground for victims of a 1782 smallpox plague that killed up to 90% of seven villages on 20,000 acres. A 600-acre reserve is home to about 350 remaining...