City files statement of defence
COMMENT: Background: In summer 2007 the westernmost leg of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific Ocean in Burnaby, was chewed into by a contractor working for the City of Burnaby. 200,000 litres of oil spilled onto the land and into Burrard Inlet.
Instead of "What do we do to ensure this will never happen again?" and "What failed with the One Call?" program, the dialogue devolved quickly into corporate scapegoating. Was it Kinder-Morgan's fault? The City's fault? The contractor's fault?
Huge Burnaby oil spill, 24-Jul-2007
Oil: BC's Hydra-headed Headache, 02-Aug-2008 (excellent article in the Tyee by yours truly.)
Pipeline owner sues Burnaby for oil spill, 08-Jan-2008
City files statement of defence
City says Kinder Morgan is largely to blame for July 2007 oil spill and resulting damages
Brooke Larsen
Burnaby Now
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
The City of Burnaby is rejecting claims it caused July's disastrous oil line burst, saying the pipeline's owner supplied inaccurate maps of its location.
Filed last week, the city's statement of defence blames Kinder Morgan Canada and Trans Mountain Pipeline for the burst, which forced residents out of their homes and blackened Burnaby's shoreline on July 24, 2007.
The eight-page statement also alleges the company failed to inspect the site before the rupture and delayed shutting off the pipeline afterwards, worsening damage to homes.
More than 200,000 litres of oil gushed onto Inlet Drive when a contractor hired by the city struck a Kinder Morgan pipeline while doing sewer work.
The spray continued for 20 minutes before it was turned off, causing millions of dollars of damage.
Kinder Morgan and Trans Mountain Pipeline sued the city last year, claiming a contractor used a backhoe near the line before its location had been marked out.
The suit also claims the contractor should have hand-dug or used a hydro-vac - a vacuum system used in excavation - when digging near the pipeline.
The suit seeks damages for loss of reputation, repair costs, lost oil and lost business but does not specify an amount. Contractors R.F. Binnie and Associates and Cusano Contracting and an unnamed backhoe operator were also named in the suit.
The city's statement of defence says Kinder Morgan supplied R.F. Binnie with inaccurate survey plans of the pipeline, "an error that directly led to the pipeline leak."
It also claims that Kinder Morgan knew about the sewer work but didn't mark out the pipeline's location or inspect the site.
Once the break happened, the company failed to "stop the flow of oil from the pipeline in a timely manner," resulting in "an increase in the rate of oil escaping from the pipeline, an increase in the area affected by the released oil, and an increase in the severity of damage to surrounding property," the statement said.
In its suit, Kinder Morgan claimed the city did not follow procedures set out in National Energy Board regulations for pipeline rights-of-way.
In its statement, the city said those regulations do not apply because the pipeline was within lands owned by the city.
"The pipeline was not in its surveyed position at the location of the pipeline leak but was within lands wholly owned exclusively by Burnaby," the statement said.
The statement also suggests that the company moved the pipeline in the mid-'90s without completing a new survey afterwards.
A spokesperson for the Kinder Morgan Canada did not return phone calls before NOW deadlines.
More than a dozen residents affected by the spill filed lawsuits against the city late last year. Shell Canada has also filed a suit seeking to recover its losses from the spill.
Last month, Coun. Garth Evans said damages in the case could exceed $20 million.
© Burnaby Now 2008