Enbridge cleanup plans assailed
Argues more study needed, ‘strong limitations due to inaccurate inputs’
Enbridge Inc.’s response plan to a potential spill of Northern Gateway oil into B.C.’s pristine waters doesn’t take into account the unique oil mixture the pipeline would carry, documents show.
Enbridge officials confirm the spill-response plan they have filed with the federal review panel studying the pipeline proposal deals with conventional crude, not diluted bitumen.
But Enbridge says the two react the same way once spilled.
However, documents obtained under access to information show a scientist at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans argued vigorously for a chance to do more research.
Kenneth Lee submitted a research proposal last December saying the matter requires further study because Enbridge’s plan had “strong limitations due to inaccurate inputs.”
“The Northern Gateway proposal lacks key information on the chemical composition of the reference oils used in the hypothetical spill models,” wrote Lee, head of DFO’s Centre for Offshore Oil Gas and Energy Research.
Lee sought approval to conduct a series of studies through to 2015 but that deadline suggests the results would come too late for the Northern Gateway review panel. Its hearings end next April.
Lee was informed this spring that his job and the research centre he runs is at risk of being eliminated as a result of federal budget cuts.
Lee is an internationally renowned expert on oil spills and was tapped last year to join a U.S. scientific committee studying the aftermath of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Northern Gateway’s twin pipelines would carry natural gas condensate to Alberta and diluted oilsands bitumen to Kitimat where it would be transferred to tankers for export.
Bitumen is oil extracted from oilsands. It’s thick and heavy like molasses, though a diluted version is what would be moved through the Enbridge pipeline.
Ray Doering, manager of engineering with the Northern Gateway project, and Elliott Taylor, one of the company’s oil-spill experts, said a combination of factors, over time, will prompt diluted bitumen to get denser.
For example, when the lighter properties evaporate, the heavier stuff remains, so it may sink. Or turbulent water or wave action could cause it to sink.
“The tool box that is going to be put together for this project will start with the same type of equipment that you use for any type of oil spill because we know that initially, that behaviour is going to be just like any other crude oil,” said Taylor.