Five new oil spill response bases could be coming to Vancouver Island as early as 2018 if the provincial government approves the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline. Western Canada Marine Response Corporation says if Kinder Morgan is approved, it will receive $150-million in industry funding for the construction of five response centres.The five new locations would be built in Ucluelet, Beecher Bay, Port Alberni, Sidney as well as a hub base at Nanaimo’s Assembly Wharf. Michael Lowry, spokesman for WCMRC tells CTV Vancouver Island. These new bases would ensure shorter response times in the southern shipping lanes, as well as increased capacity for that same area.” Operating seven days a week, Nanaimo’s base would be tasked with rapid response on eastern Vancouver Island and would house equipment storage, a dispatch and administrative centre employing 22 people.Ottawa’s stamp of approval could see the twinning of an existing pipeline between Alberta and Burnaby, bringing three times the crude oil to tankers off B.C.’s pristine South Coast. If the province approves the Kinder Morgan expansion and the project goes ahead, the company said the spill response could be operational as soon as 2018.