TransMountain project hotter topic in B.C.

SHERWOOD PARK — Kinder Morgan put up dozens of posters describing its $5.4billion TransMountain pipeline expansion between Edmonton and Burnaby, B.C. for an open house here on Wednesday, but in a region dotted with tank farms, pipelines and refineries, the company’s public relations efforts are largely unnecessary.

“People here may ask about jobs, but in Burnaby they were lined up out the door to get in, and they had lots of questions,” said Greg Hill, a director of major projects for the U.S.-based firm, as he scanned a basically empty room at Festival Place. “In Burnaby, some people want to know about our pipeline, but there are some who are anti-oilsands or worried about tanker spills. It is really a mixed bag out there.”

The Vancouver suburb and its marine terminal is the destination for the current TransMountain line, which has been carrying up to 300,000 barrels per day of crude oil and refined products since the 1950s, and diluted bitumen from the Cold Lake region since the 1980s. About 44 per cent of the flow heads to Washington state refineries via a junction at Sumas, in the Fraser Valley.

Kinder Morgan intends to file its application with the National Energy Board for the expansion in a couple of months, with a two-year review process to follow. The board has already ruled that the environmental impacts of oilsands development won’t be part of the review.

Construction of the new line alongside the existing pipeline would take place between 2016 and 2017, with the additional 590,000 barrels per day in service during 2017. The section through Jasper National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park was completed several years ago, meaning 980 kilometres of new pipe is needed.

For the Edmonton region, the expansion will mean a new pipeline running in the free space beside Anthony Henday Drive in the Transportation and Utility Corridor that surrounds Edmonton. The current line runs through south Edmonton.

There will also be an enlargement of the Edmonton terminal site, which is adjacent to the Suncor refinery.

Kinder Morgan is in the midst of a 4.8-million barrel expansion at the site. When completed, the TransMountain system facility and the North 40 merchant terminal will be able to hold 9.4 million barrels.

“We are replacing the smaller tanks and removing the berms between tanks, which was required decades ago,” said Hill. “The entire site will now be graded to slope toward a large, remote impoundment area.”

Kinder Morgan is adding five new tanks as part of the expansion project, while the rest are to handle the general increase in storage demands from customers.

Kinder Morgan is also spending about $750 million to expand its Burnaby operations, including the marine terminal, which will add two berths and be able to dispatch one oil tanker each day. Because of the shallowness in the channel, these are not super tankers, but smaller ships only partially loaded.

“They are heading for California, to refineries at Long Beach (near Los Angeles) and the San Francisco Bay area. Aviation fuel is also brought in by tanker from Washington state refineries and unloaded at Burnaby into our pipeline, which services the Vancouver airport,” he said.