Tighten safety on oil pipeline
It has operated “safety and reliably” for 37 years, according to Enbridge, but an oil pipeline most people never knew existed is now generating worry through the Greater Toronto Area. And for good reason. Enbridge is proposing to boost the capacity of Line 9B, running from near Hamilton to Montreal, pumping an additional 60,000 barrels of oil a day through this aging conduit. Some of that flow would include controversial diluted bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands. And the company is making its request in the wake of some horrifying accidents involving the transportation of oil.
With Line 9B crossing every major river in the GTA; running across all of north Toronto, and passing perilously close to the Finch subway station, people are understandably troubled. A major spill could be catastrophic. Planned changes to the 639-kilometre line require National Energy Board approval and several municipalities along the route have filed submissions expressing specific concerns.
As reported by the Star’s Jessica McDiarmid, Toronto’s submission cites a lack of contingency planning should a major leak occur near the subway station; overlong company response times in reacting to trouble, and concern regarding Enbridge’s ability to compensate residents, businesses and the municipality in the wake of a major accident.
Hamilton’s fire services warn that first-responders need more information from Enbridge to prepare for a crisis.
Durham Region notes that shut-off valves are located too far apart in its territory, potentially allowing a great deal of oil to escape through a break before it could be stopped. And Whitby wants local first-responders trained to shut those valves, not just Enbridge staff.
Such concerns, and more, are to be aired later this month at public hearings in Toronto and Montreal. This process provides an excellent opportunity to explore — and ease — potential hazards inherent in a pipeline that has existed for almost four decades without gathering much notice.
In fairness to Enbridge, Line 9B has been free of major incidents over that time and the planned increase in its capacity is being carefully done.
An assessment of the line has been undertaken using robotic devices that crawl through pipe and look for defects. And no large scale additional construction is being proposed.
Boosting flow from 240,000 barrels a day to 300,000 barrels would be achieved by making oil move more smoothly, with less friction, through the existing line. This involves adding a “drag reducing agent” to the mix, in the form of a polymer compound, and requires minimal new work.
That said, municipal concerns deserve serious attention, especially since some could be addressed at minimal cost. Co-operating with first-responders, for example, to create better contingency plans and more specific responses seems a basic step.
Installing more shut-off valves doesn’t seem particularly onerous. And it’s essential that the company show it has resources to deliver adequate compensation in case of a megadisaster.
Recent events illustrate why. Derailment of a train carrying oil resulted in a fiery explosion in Lac Mégantic, Que., killing 47 people in July and destroying the community’s downtown.
The company involved, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic railway, has filed for bankruptcy and is unlikely to cover the billions of dollars of damage caused by its runaway train. Enbridge, too, is no stranger to crisis. A devastating spill from a leaking pipeline dumped about 3.3 million liters of oil in a creek flowing into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River. The 2010 disaster marked the largest on-land spill in U.S. history and it still hasn’t been entirely cleaned up.
Recent history shows how much can go wrong when moving oil, especially through densely populated areas and vulnerable watersheds.
In light of that, extra steps are necessary to better ensure the safety of high-volume flow in Enbridge’s Line 9B.
Enbridge is no stranger to crisis. A devastating spill from a leaking pipeline dumped about 3.3 million liters of oil in a creek flowing into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River