Leaky Terasen pipe repaired after 100,000 litres of crude oil seeps into Sumas marsh
Vancouver Sun
22-Jul-2005
COMMENT: Why is this news? Back in the year 2000, when we were confronted with the GSX Pipeline, we looked into safety and regulatory issues for pipelines generally, natural gas pipeline particularly, and the situation in British Columbia, specifically. Here's some old footage from www.sqwalk.com
The GSX was introduced not long after a gas liquids pipeline exploded in Bellingham, killing three youths. A natural gas pipeline exploded near Carlsbad, New Mexico killing 12 people who were camping nearby. The then Westcoast Energy (now Duke Energy) Southern Mainline pipeline exploded on the Coquihalla, raining stones and debris on cars parked nearby. A Pembina Pipelines oil pipeline ruptured into the Pine River near Chetwynd. Plenty of reason to be concerned about safety and pipeline regulation.
We discovered that in North America, pipelines have an "incident" - an unintended loss of contents - once every couple of days. Someone is injured every four days. Someone is killed every seventeen days. It isn't a pretty record. And this is the record primarily from jurisdictions that have a long history of pipelines and pipeline regulation.
In BC, the regulatory situation is deplorable. The Oil and Gas Commission, whose job it is to monitor pipeline safety, was unable to provide any summary or detail record about pipeline incidents. It took a year of Freedom of Information requests and an appeal to the Office of Information and Privacy Commissioner to dislodge information from the OGC.
The OGC does not have the professional resources required to do the work properly, and nor does it have the will to do the job properly. The OGC measures its achievements by permits issued and speed of processing of applications. When push comes to shove, the OGC is not there to challenge, deter, or add cost or impediments to an industry that is now the province's largest provider of revenue to the province.
A report from June 2005 entitled "This land is their land" by the Sierra Legal Defense Fund condems BC's lax regulatory environment. It examines government’s failure to protect the interests of non-industry stakeholders and the environment in its headlong rush for oil and gas revenue.
This most recent Terasen incident is illustrative of a troubling situation with pipelines. Many were built decades ago, in rural areas, under standards that are unacceptable today. Population increase and urban sprawl has resulted in intense suburban development taking place around these old pipelines. Whether it's a leaking oil pipeline or an exploding gas pipeline, the proximity to people of these old facilities is a concern. - Arthur Caldicott
ABBOTSFORD - After seeping more than 100,000 litres of crude oil into a Sumas Mountain marsh, a damaged Terasen pipeline leading to its Abbotsford oil storage was repaired Thursday.
Crews cut out the damaged section and are monitoring the flow of oil through the repaired 20-inch pipe for two days, said Mike Helmer, an assistant chief with Abbotsford's Fire Rescue Service.
The city's fire and rescue members have been on the site to control the hazardous material since a leak was first reported.
"There were a number of complaints from local citizens who noticed the smell [of crude oil]. A Terasen employee searched the area and found a sheen on the marsh," said Helmer. Terasen alerted Helmer, who alerted city officials and the Provincial Emergency Response Program and set into motion a Level 1 emergency response. A fire crew and auxiliary members, city police and city engineers went to the Terasen pipelines tank farm on Sumas Mountain, where crews began to try to prevent spill damage. Helmer said Terasen workers found a hole the size of a toonie in the pipe, which is one metre under the soil. Nine households in the vicinity were evacuated as a precaution from the fumes. The damaged pipe is one of two transfer pipes that divert oil from a main pipeline drawing crude from Alberta to the Lower Mainland.