Kinder Morgan seeks public relations help in Burnaby
Burnaby Mountain has been ground zero for the fight against Kinder Morgan's plan to triple oil shipments from Alberta to the Lower Mainland.
So it seems only natural that the energy giant would want help dealing with irate residents of Burnaby.
To address this, Kinder Morgan recently posted an online advertisement for a public-relations coordinator who will be based there.
The lucky candidate will join the stakeholder engagement and communications team to be "the interface with the general public and the project team as it relates to the Trans Mountain Expansion Project".
"The role will have primary responsibility for managing and responding to the daily phone calls and emails from the public and broader community," the ad states. "There will be occasions where the successful applicant will be asked to attend public outreach events, including workshops and open houses, which will require access to a vehicle and potentially some evening or weekend work."
Anyone considering applying for the job should be aware that the movement to keep fossil fuels in the ground has become more militant.
Spurred on by a 2013 article called "Welcome to Blockadia!" and Naomi Klein's new book, This Changes Everything, environmental protesters have begun normalizing direct actions against companies intent on increasing greenhouse-gas emissions.
The notion of Blockadia was recently on display when demonstrators crashed a Kinder Morgan party at a North Vancouver restaurant.
Whoever takes this public-relations job shouldn't be surprised if they encounter other Blockadia-inspired actions in the future.
Somehow, we doubt that community organizer Ben West of Tanker Free B.C. will be one of the applicants.
But if things aren't working out for former Global TV reporter Jas Johal at the B.C. LNG Alliance or for former Vancouver Sun business editor Stuart Muir at Resource Works, perhaps they might want to put their names forward.
Comments
3 Comments
Adzerk123
Jan 28, 2015 at 6:33pm
Hi Charlie, they have actually been posting that position for months now, I wonder if they haven't found the right person yet, or people keep leaving.
Reading this though: "Anyone considering applying for the job should be aware that the movement to keep fossil fuels in the ground has become more militant"
If the people in the pic above are any indication militant will mean ever less effective theatrics by raging granny types. Not too scary. The protest of Kinder Morgans dinner party being forced out by decrepit looking office workers is pretty sad as well.
Tommy Khang
Jan 29, 2015 at 8:36am
Hmm maybe I Tommy Khang should take this job. It seems like it would fit right up my alley of moderate right wingism and allow for liberal bashing of eco-commie-hippies that I already do on the Georgia Straight comment section.
I am glad that Kinder Morgan is hiring this position though because honestly Trans Mountain has had one of the most tone deaf PR campaigns of all time and I have had the pleasure of hearing both their spiel and that of Enbridge. Surprisingly the folks at Enbridge actually know what they are doing compared the morons at Kinder Morgan.
Ali Hounsell
Jan 29, 2015 at 9:37am
Hi Charlie:
Thanks for your interest and coverage of our job posting for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project. This is a role we've had with the project team in Burnaby since 2012 and the individual who was in the role has recently left to pursue another opportunity.
It's a busy and interesting job with the primary responsibility being to answer questions from the public about the Project that come in through email, our website - www.transmountain.com - and our project information phone line. In 2014 we responded to some 2,000 inquiries.
We encourage all interested and qualified candidates to check out the link Charlie provided and apply.
Ali Hounsell
Trans Mountain Expansion Project