A GREEN LIGHT FOR ENBRIDGE
Transport Canada says tankers can safely access Kitimat.
Transport Canada says oil supertankers can safely access a terminal in Kitimat to collect loads of crude from Enbridge Inc.’ s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project.
The federal department has determined that the marine passages connecting Kitimat to the Pacific Ocean contain no obstructions that could pose a safety risk to fully loaded oil tankers. It expects the project would attract 250 or more such tankers a year to the northern B. C. community.
“The proposed shipping routes are appropriate for the oil tankers that will be used at the proposed terminal,” says the assessment by the federal department, submitted Thursday to a joint regulatory panel reviewing the $ 5.5- billion pipeline proposal for the federal government.
The review, posted online by the joint panel, notes the routes provide the required clearances for good vessel manoeuvrability and allowances for very large crude oil tankers to safely navigate.
A marine link to global markets is critical for Northern Gateway, which would transport up to 525,000 barrels per day of crude from Alberta’s oilsands to the West Coast, for export to Asian and Californian markets.
The project is viewed as among the most critical industrial developments in Canada by the federal and Alberta governments and by oilpatch producers.
Environmental groups, first nations and other pipeline critics of Northern Gateway have flagged narrow marine passages and inclement weather as among the biggest contributors to a risk of oil tanker spills in coastal waters that they associate with the pipeline.
Enbridge has said it would exceed current industry best practices to ensure the safe passage of oil tankers frequenting Kitimat. It has committed to mandating safe speeds for oil tankers and tugs, as well as safety limits for environmental and marine conditions for both vessels and terminal operations, Transport Canada noted.
The Canadian Coast Guard reviewed the waterways, considering the size of the largest proposed oil tankers, the traffic density and environmental factors that would affect manoeuvrability, and found that the route complies with existing guidelines.
There are some narrow portions where caution must be exercised by two- way traffic and there may be a heightened threat to marine mammals, Transport Canada acknowledged, noting Enbridge has proposed measures to avoid contact with animals.
The review’s findings failed to satisfy critics, including Eric Swanson, director of Dogwood Initiative’s No Tankers campaign.
“Everything is safe until an accident happens. What we’ve seen around the world is that despite all precautions, despite all procedures, humans sometimes make mistakes and machines sometimes break.”
Swanson said safety procedures didn’t prevent the BC Ferries’ Queen of the North from sinking after running aground on Gil Island, 135 kilometres south of Prince Rupert in 2006.
“So this whole debate about Enbridge is about whether coastal B. C. will accept the risk of this new type of accident happening,” said Swanson.
“It just takes one incident and it’s lights out for lives and livelihoods up on the coast.”
Art Sterritt, executive director of Coastal First Nations, called the Transport Canada review “another attempt by the federal government to circumvent the joint review process.”
Sterritt said the analysis was a “shallow report” because it failed to consider the future cumulative impact of oil tankers, liquefied natural gas tankers, and cruise ships in the area.
“What is being proposed for Douglas Channel could rival traffic in the bloody Suez Canal.”
Bill Eynon, president of the Kitimat Terrace Industrial Development Society, praised the review.
“I don’t think you can ever overplay safety, I think you have to take safety to the extreme, right. And I think that is what they have done.”
Eynon said the critics of the project are overly alarmist about the hazards posed by the passages that connect Kitimat to the open Pacific.
“There are narrow parts of it. But it’s a pretty wide channel.”
Prince Rupert city councillor Jennifer Rice cautioned that there is no legislation forcing Enbridge to follow safety procedures