The Mississauga News reports on a talk given to the community by Toronto Chapter member Tara Seucharan.
“While Enbridge waits for the green light to resume use of an oil pipeline that passes through Mississauga, some of those living along the 833-kilometre route are concerned about possible risks.
The project, known as Line 9B, is the second phase of a plan to reverse the flow of the near 40-year-old pipeline, travelling from Sarnia to Montreal, as well as move heavier crude and increase its daily capacity by 60,000 barrels to 300,000.”
The article continues:
“Though Enbridge says Line 9 will continue to mostly carry light crude, Tara Seucharan, a member of the Toronto arm of the Council of Canadians, says the addition of tar sands oil could pose a threat if a spill was to occur – especially to waterways.
Noting that Line 9 crosses the Credit River in Mississauga, Seucharan claims that if heavier crude, which is blended with diluted bitumen (dilbit), reaches water it doesn’t act like lighter oil.
“The heavier (crude) goes into the waterway and it sinks (whereas) when we have a conventional oil cleanup it goes to the top,” Seucharan, whose social and environmental action group is against tar sands oil, told a small audience at the Promenade Gallery last week (Nov. 28).
Upon sinking, she claims heavier crude mixes with organic matter at the bottom of a river.
“The only way to really get it out is to dredge the river bed,” she said.
In an effort to illustrate the cause for worry, she compared Line 9 to that of Line 6B, an Enbridge pipeline that spilled an estimated 20,000-plus barrels of crude oil in Marshall, Michigan in July 2010.
“They’re very similar,” she said of the pipes. “If it could happen there, it could happen here.” “
To read the article:
The National Energy Board recently refused Enbridge permission to open Line 9 because they were not satisfied that the company had placed enough emergency valves to protect waterways.
For more information:
http://canadians.org/blog/enbridge-says-line-9-doesnt-need-more-shut-valves-water-crossings
http://canadians.org/blog/neb-delays-line-9-opening
