Last week, the Canadian Press reported that the Council of Canadians, the Alberta Surface Rights Group, Greenpeace, and the Sierra Club were bringing Anthony Swift “an expert from the Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council to talk to them about what Albertans should be concerned about regarding the province’s aging pipeline network” at workshops in three communities. The Council of Canadians Red Deer chapter helped with the workshop Swift spoke at in Bowden (located about 40 kilometres south of Red Deer).
Today, Postmedia News reports, “Alberta must introduce tougher regulations to catch pipeline spills and mandate better technologies to prevent them, says a pipeline expert visiting from the United States. …In Canada, Swift said oil companies are required to detect a leak in the volume of five per cent of a pipeline’s capacity within five minutes. ‘That’s all well and good, but once leaks get below five-per-cent capacity, the regulations weaken significantly,’ he said. A leak of between two and five per cent of a pipeline’s capacity must be detected within seven days. A leak of between one to two per cent of a pipeline’s capacity must be detected within one month.”
Last month, CBC reported, “(Enbridge) is breaking National Energy Board safety rules at 117 of its 125 pump stations across the country… Enbridge was ordered by the (NEB) to disclose whether or not it had backup power to operate emergency shut-down systems in the facilities that keep oil flowing through its pipes. The company told the NEB only eight of its pump stations complied with the board’s backup power system regulation. …(Enbridge now) has an NEB-approved plan to retrofit all 117 pump stations with backup power although no timeline has been made public for when facilities will be brought in line with regulations.”
And just two weeks ago, the Huffington Post reported, “Former TransCanada Corp. employee Evan Vokes’ impassioned testimony before a Canadian Senate committee painted ‘a very, very bleak picture of the pipeline industry in Canada… Vokes’ allegations on (June 6) against TransCanada were sobering: a ‘culture of noncompliance’ and ‘coercion’, with ‘deeply entrenched business practices that ignored legally required regulations and codes’ and carries ’significant public safety risks’.”
That article also includes Andrew Nikiforuk noting, “A Global News investigation found that Alberta’s pipeline infrastructure has leaked 61,000 times in the last 37 years. Approximately 29,000 spills involved oil, a rate of two crude oil spills a day. The remainder involved everything from salt water to condensate.”
For more, please read:
NEWS: Red Deer chapter hosts pipeline safety forum with NRDC lawyer
NEWS: Whistleblower presents ‘bleak picture’ of TransCanada pipeline safety
Enbridge breaks safety rules at pipeline pump stations across Canada