Asleep at the switch?

By Dan Ferguson
Black Press
Sep 14 2007

Undersea power line damaged by Deltaport contractor.

They dumped 25,000 tonnes of rock, gravel and sand in the wrong location, damaging two of the three 25-kilometre long undersea power lines that feed electricity to Vancouver Island from the Lower Mainland.

It was more than a month before the people working on the expansion of the Deltaport container terminal realized their mistake.

About 20 barge loads of dredged material were dumped one kilometre outside the permitted disposal area between May 31 and July 10.

A court statement filed by the B.C. Transmission Corporation (BCTC), the owner of the power lines, says only one of the three high voltage cables is still working and because of that reliable service to Vancouver Island cannot be guaranteed during the winter, when demand for power peaks.

Details of the dumping incident were disclosed in a staff report presented to Delta Council.

"Someone was asleep at the switch completely," Chief Administrative Officer George Harvie observed.

Mayor Lois jackson called the incident outrageous.

"Someone has to be held accountable."

The incident is being investigated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (the dumping occurred in American waters), Environment Canada, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, BCTC and the Vancouver Port Authority.

Captain Gordon Houston, president and CEO of the port authority, said the dump site is undergoing "submersible surveys" to determine the extent of damage and what kind of clean-up measures will be required.

"We do not yet have any conclusive answers for the question of how this could have happened or how it could have remained undetected for as long as it did," Houston stated in a letter to Mayor Lois Jackson.

Houston said steps have been taken to tighten disposal procedures to prevent a repeat.

Delta Council Report
11-Sep-2007

Delta council is sufficiently concerned about this incident that at its September 17, 2007 meeting it will consider sending a letter to senior government agencies:

With respect to the issue of financial security, Environment Canada currently holds two letters of credit from VPA with respect to the Fisheries Act Authorization and the Disposal at Sea Permit. Under the Fisheries Act Authorization, $1.4 million is held as a performance bond for the obligations of the VPA with respect to the habitat compensation monitoring requirements described in the Authorization. Security of $5 million is also held to ensure VPA’s commitments under the Disposal at Sea Permit, specifically the Intercauseway Adaptive Management Strategy, are met. Environment Canada could potentially call upon these funds for mitigation or compensation for damage caused by improper ocean disposal or, in the event of a successful prosecution under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, fines could be levied for the costs of remedial work required for the ocean disposal violation.

In accordance with Council’s direction, staff has drafted a letter to the federal and provincial Environment Ministers for Council’s consideration (Attachment A). Key points of the letter include:

* A recognition of the seriousness of the incident and the failure on the part of both the permit holder and regulatory authorities to ensure compliance with the Disposal at Sea Permit.
* A request that the results of the investigation be made publicly available as soon as possible after the investigation is complete.
* A request that the Minister revoke the Letter of Credit held to ensure the requirements of the Disposal at Sea Permit are met.
* A request for a system of independent monitoring to be implemented.
* An invitation for a EC representative to attend a meeting of Council to answer questions regarding this matter.

Staff Report to Delta Council
17-Aug-2007

On July 27, 2007, the B.C. Transmission Corporation (BCTC) contacted VPA regarding a malfunction which had been detected in one of the 25 km-long undersea high voltage electrical cables linking Vancouver Island and the B.C. mainland. Subsequent investigations revealed that the damage had been caused by dredge material that had been dumped on the cables. Deltaport Constructors Ltd., the contractor for the DP3 construction project later confirmed that approximately 25,000 tonnes (18–20 barge loads) of dredge material had been dumped between May 31 and July 10, approximately 1 km outside of the permitted dumping area in US waters. A map of the area, showing the disposal site and cable alignment, is included as Attachment A.

According to VPA, the dredge material is certified for disposal at sea and consists of clean granular material comprised of rock, gravel and sand. This material, which is not suitable for use as fill in the construction of DP3, is being removed from the project site – south of the Roberts Bank facility – to create a ship turning basin for the expanded berth.

VPA reported the incident to Environment Canada and DFO and dredging operations were halted. On August 13, 2007, operations resumed subject to new requirements imposed by Environment Canada in addition to the requirements of the existing disposal at sea permit:

1. An independent marine surveyor, mutually agreeable to EC and VPA, must be on-board all tugs towing material destined for disposal at sea.
2. EC requires a daily report on volume of material and coordinates of disposal for all disposal activities.

BCTC response

In initial statements, BCTC indicated that the cable damage had not impacted the power supply to Vancouver Island and that there was no immediate concern regarding the reliability of supply. BCTC also stated that the incident served as evidence as to why new powerlines should be located away from active industry.

Subsequently however, on August 8, 2007, BCTC filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court of Canada stating that, due to the cable damage caused by the dumping, a reliable service to Vancouver Island could not be guaranteed to meet peak winter electricity demand. BCTC states that only one out of three high voltage cables is left in service as a result of the dumping incident and that there is an “acute” risk of a major failure of the aging cable that supplies power to Vancouver Island.

According to BCTC, the power supply to Vancouver Island would be secured with the completion of the Vancouver Island Transmission Reinforcement Project (VITRP) which is currently on hold as a result of an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada by the local residents group, Tsawwassen Residents Against Higher Voltage Overhead Lines (TRAHVOL). BCTC is requesting that the court reject the TRAHVOL appeal, which could take several months to be heard, and allow the VITRP to proceed to meet its in-service deadline of October 2008. BCTC has stated that if the October 2008 window for laying the new submarine cables was missed, significant additional costs of approximately $22 million would be incurred by BCTC.

Investigation

The incident is currently under investigation by various regulatory agencies including Environment Canada and DFO, as well as internal investigations by VPA and BCTC. Environment Canada has confirmed that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has been advised of the incident through the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. At this time, no new information is being released and Environment Canada was unable to comment on timelines for completion of their investigation.

Delta concerns

This incident raises numerous questions regarding the management of the DP3 construction operation and the effectiveness of compliance monitoring. Specifically, it is difficult to understand how so many barge loads of material could have been deposited so far from the disposal site before being detected. Section 5 of the Disposal at Sea Permit (Attachment B) includes strict position-fixing procedures to ensure disposal takes place in the correct location. The apparent lack of monitoring of the dredging and disposal activities brings into question VPA’s management and regulatory oversight of the DP3 operation, especially given that the environmental assessment certificate has onerous monitoring and reporting requirements.

At this stage, the environmental impacts of the improper dumping and potential mitigation measures are not known. The situation is compounded by the fact that the dumping appears to have taken place in US waters and will likely involve a separate investigation by the USEPA.

Given the serious nature of this incident, it is important that Delta be kept apprised of the ongoing investigations and fully informed of the outcomes of those investigations. It is therefore recommended that Environment Canada and VPA be requested to attend a Regular Meeting of Delta Council to provide an update with respect to the incident and answer questions in this regard.

CONCLUSION:

Information regarding the recent incident involving the improper disposal of dredged material from the DP3 construction site and subsequent damage to high voltage underwater cables is presented. Given the serious nature of the incident and the many questions that remain unanswered at this stage it is recommended that Environment Canada and VPA be requested to attend a Regular Meeting of Council at their earliest convenience to report and answer questions about the incident.

Incident Map