All posts by Canadian Press

NEB audit exposes gaps in TransCanada’s pipeline safety

February 26, 2014Energy and Resources, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and SupertankersfeaturedCanadian Press

NEB audit exposes serious safety flaws for TransCanada — TransCanada CEO Russ Girling announces Energy East pipeline on Aug. 1 (photo: (Jeff McIntosh / CP)

CALGARY – Problems flagged in the National Energy Board’s audit of TransCanada Corp.’s pipeline safety practices should have Canadians worried, a group fighting that company’s proposed Energy East pipeline said Tuesday.

The audit report, released Monday, found TransCanada (TSX:TRP) to be non-compliant in four of nine areas it examined: hazard identification, risk assessment and control; operational control in upset or abnormal operating condition; inspection, measurement and monitoring, and management review.

“It’s a real cause for concern considering that they want to build the biggest pipeline in Canada, the Energy East pipeline. People should be very worried about that,” said Mark Calzavara, Ontario regional organizer with the Council of Canadians.

Calzavara said the NEB has tended to be “lenient” when it comes to energy companies.

[quote]When they finally do come out and say ‘hey, you’ve got to get your act together,’ it’s an indication of some very serious, serious problems.[/quote]

Energy East would involve converting a portion of TransCanada’s existing natural gas mainline between Alberta and Quebec to oil service, and then laying down new pipe all the way to Saint John, N.B. TransCanada expects to file a regulatory application for the $12-billion proposal this summer.

The NEB audit was also released against the backdrop of a long-running and intense debate over TransCanada’s Keystone XL proposal, which would send 830,000 barrels per day of mostly oilsands crude to Texas refineries.

The energy watchdog said in Monday’s report that it’s looking into whether some steel pipe and fittings need to be improved on the existing Keystone system, which started delivering crude to the U.S. Midwest in 2010. It says that investigation is ongoing.

In an emailed statement Tuesday, TransCanada spokesman Davis Sheremata said: “Extensive field testing of the strength of the fittings we are discussing with the NEB has confirmed that there are no safety or integrity concerns with these fittings and there is no risk to the environment or the public.”

The NEB gave the company 30 days to file a plan detailing how it will fix the problems. TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard said Monday that the company has already taken action to address many of the issues.

“We share the NEB’s focus on protecting public safety and the environment,” he said. “We take our responsibilities to anticipate, prevent, mitigate and manage any and all hazards and risks associated with our operations seriously.”

Beijing air pollution soars to alarming levels

February 24, 2014Health and EnvironmentfeaturedCanadian Press

by Didi Tang, Associated Press

BEIJING – When the air gets really bad, Beijing says it has an emergency plan to yank half the city’s cars off the road. The only problem is: It may be difficult to ever set that plan in motion.

It wasn’t triggered in January, when the city recorded extremely poisonous air pollution. And not this week, when pollution was expected to continue for several days at hazardous levels. A rare alert issued Friday was an “orange” one — the second-highest in the four levels of urgency — prompting health advisories and bans on barbeques, fireworks and demolition work, but no order to pull cars from the streets.

“Yesterday, I thought it was bad enough when I went out to eat. But this morning I was hacking,” a Beijing pedestrian who gave her name as Li said Friday, as a thick haze shrouded the city.

Still, the government did not issue the red alert. Beijing’s alert system requires a forecast of three days in a row of severe pollution for the highest level. Days of extreme pollution or polluted skies that are expected to clear in less than three days do not trigger the most stringent measures.

A period of pollution in January that saw density readings of PM 2.5 particles exceeding 500 micrograms per cubic meter prompted only the mildest, blue-level alert. That density is about 20 times as high as the 25 micrograms considered safe by the World Health Organization. PM refers to “particulate matter,” a mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets, the size of which is linked to their potential for causing health problems.

The measures that went into effect Friday also ask members of the public to use public transportation and to turn off their cars rather than let them run idle, as well as call for water sprinkling on the street and dust-control measures at building sites. The most stringent level, red, would order half of Beijing’s 5 million cars off the road — based on the last digit of their license plate.

Ma Jun, of the non-governmental Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in Beijing, said that accurately forecasting three days of heavy pollution is technically difficult.

But in any case, he said, the government is reluctant to adopt the most disruptive measures, because it would be nearly impossible to notify all drivers of the rules and to adequately boost the capacity of public transportation to accommodate the extra passengers.

“When the alert is at a low level, the measures are not effective, but those for the high-level alert are not feasible,” Ma said. “The government is reluctant to raise the alert level.”

However, Ma credited the government with becoming more open in recent months about air pollution levels, and noted that many people receive real-time government updates about Beijing’s air quality on their mobile phones, so that they can take protective measures.

Associated Press video journalists Aritz Parra and Hélène Franchineau contributed to this report.

Oilsands tailings ponds leaking toxic chemicals: federal govt study

February 20, 2014Energy and Resources, Oil&Gas, Tar SandsfeaturedCanadian Press

Oilsands tailings ponds leaking toxic chemicals-federal govt study — Syncrude tailings pond (David Dodge, Pembina Institute)

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

EDMONTON – New federal research has strongly backed suspicions that toxic chemicals from Alberta’s vast oilsands tailings ponds are leaching into groundwater and seeping into the Athabasca River.

Leakage from oilsands tailings ponds, which now cover 176 square kilometres, has long been an issue. Industry has acknowledged that seepage can occur and previous studies using models have estimated it at 6.5 million litres a day from a single pond.

The soil around the developments contains many chemicals from naturally occurring bitumen deposits and scientists have never able to separate them from contaminants released by industry.

The current Environment Canada study, accepted for publication in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, used new technology to discover that the mix of chemicals is slightly different between the two sources. That discovery, made using a $1.6-million piece of equipment purchased in 2010 to help answer such questions, allows scientists to actually fingerprint chemicals and trace them back to where they came from.

“Differentiation of natural from (tailings water) sources was apparent,” says the study.

The scientists took 20 groundwater samples from areas at least one kilometre upstream and downstream from development. They took another seven samples from within 200 metres of two of the tailings ponds.

Samples were also taken from two different tailings ponds.

The analysis was focused on so-called acid-extractable organics, which include a family of chemicals called naphthenic acids.

“Their enhanced water solubility makes them prime candidates for possible migration beyond containment structures via groundwater,” the report says.

Those toxins were found in groundwater both near and far from development. But their chemical composition was slightly different nearer the mines — closer to that found in the water from the ponds.

“Analyses all demonstrate a close similarity between these two (near) samples and (tailings water), as opposed to the natural far-field groundwater,” the report says.

“The resemblance between the (acid-extracted organics) profiles from (tailings water) and from six groundwater samples adjacent to two tailings ponds implies a common source. These samples included two of upward-flowing groundwater collected (less than) one metre beneath the Athabasca River, suggesting (tailings water) is reaching the river system.”

The study doesn’t quantify the amount of tailings ponds water that is escaping. It noted that even at the sample sites near development, pond water was diluted by natural groundwater.

The research was conducted under the auspices of the Joint Oilsands Monitoring Program run by the federal and Alberta governments and funded by a $50-million levy on industry.

Industry is working to address the tailings issue, budgeting more than $1 billion in tailings-reduction technology.

Groundwater is monitored at all tailings sites to ensure it’s flowing as expected.

Operators use ditches and cut-off walls to capture seepage and runoff water, and install groundwater interception wells. Captured water is pumped back into tailings pond.

Mark Cooper, spokesman for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said the quality of water in the Athabasca River remains good.

“Current tailings pond and groundwater monitoring in the oilsands shows no substances being released or predicted to be released in quantities or concentrations that would degrade or alter water quality,” he said. “This study does not change that.”

Cooper said the association supports research such as the Environment Canada study and echoed its call for more research in the same vein.

“While the research technique used in this study shows some potential, further detailed work is required to evaluate its accuracy and adequacy for tracking oil sands process water.”

Study: Arctic getting darker, making Earth warmer

February 18, 2014Climate Change, Climate SciencefeaturedCanadian Press

Study: Arctic getting darker, making Earth warmer — Photo by Rear Admiral Harley D. Nygren, NOAA Corps, ret., courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The Arctic isn’t nearly as bright and white as it used to be because of more ice melting in the ocean, and that’s turning out to be a global problem, a new study says.

With more dark, open water in the summer, less of the sun’s heat is reflected back into space. So the entire Earth is absorbing more heat than expected, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

That extra absorbed energy is so big that it measures about one-quarter of the entire heat-trapping effect of carbon dioxide, said the study’s lead author, Ian Eisenman, a climate scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California.

The Arctic grew eight per cent darker between 1979 and 2011, Eisenman found, measuring how much sunlight is reflected back into space.

“Basically, it means more warming,” Eisenman said in an interview.

The North Pole region is an ocean that mostly is crusted at the top with ice that shrinks in the summer and grows back in the fall. At its peak melt in September, the ice has shrunk on average by nearly 35,000 square miles — about the size of Maine — per year since 1979.

Snow-covered ice reflects several times more heat than dark, open ocean, which replaces the ice when it melts, Eisenman said.

As more summer sunlight dumps into the ocean, the water gets warmer, and ittakes longer forice to form again in the fall, Jason Box of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland said in an email. He was not part of the study.

While earlier studies used computer models, Eisenman said his is the first to use satellite measurements to gauge sunlight reflection and to take into account cloud cover. The results show the darkening is as much as two to three times bigger than previous estimates, he said.

Box and University of Colorado ice scientist Waleed Abdalati, who was not part of the research, called the work important in understanding how much heat is getting trapped on Earth.

PNAS journal: http://www.pnas.org

TransCanada gas pipeline ruptures in Alberta

February 18, 2014Energy and Resources, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and SupertankersfeaturedCanadian Press

TransCanada gas pipeline breaks in Alberta — TransCanada gas pipelines

Updated 2 PM PST

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HOUSE, Alta. – The National Energy Board is investigating a natural gas pipeline rupture in west-central Alberta.

The federal regulator said the TransCanada (TSX:TRP) pipe broke Tuesday morning about 10 kilometres north of Rocky Mountain House.

It said the pipe was shut down and there were no immediate public safety concerns.

TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard said the nearest home to the pipeline rupture is more than half a kilometre away. He said the company had been in contact with the landowner and no evacuation was required.

Howard said it was the company’s understanding that Transportation Safety Board and energy board personnel were on their way to the site to monitor TransCanada’s response.

“Before any repair or restoration of service work can occur, the (energy board) must approve the company’s plans,” he said in a release.

There was no disruption of natural gas service to the community of Rocky Mountain House, Howard added, although TransCanada was “working with some of our customers, who provide service to homes in rural areas, to assess their needs.”

Manager of the Rocky Gas Co-op, Vic Kelly, advised customers to use other fuel sources until the gas was turned back on.

There was no word on when that might happen.

A TransCanada pipeline explosion in Manitoba last month left about 3,600 homes and businesses without heat for several days in -20 C temperatures.

(CKGY, The Canadian Press)

Read: Regulator buried report on TransCanada pipeline explosion

Giant Mine clean-up involves freezing underground arsenic

February 13, 2014Metals and Minerals, MiningfeaturedCanadian Press

Clean-up-of-Canada's-most-toxic-mine-involves-freezing-underground-arsenic — Photo: Wikimedia Commons

By Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

YELLOWKNIFE – Plans to clean up what may be Canada’s worst toxic site are moving ahead with changes suggested by those who live beside Yellowknife’s Giant Mine.

Last summer, a northern environmental regulator told the federal cabinet that it wasn’t entirely happy with Ottawa’s plans for the mine, which holds millions of tonnes of arsenic-contaminated waste on the shores of Great Slave Lake.

The Mackenzie Valley Review Board agreed freezing the underground arsenic in place is probably the best solution.

But it sided with aboriginal groups, territorial politicians and the City of Yellowknife, who have strong reservations with the federal plan.

The board eventually recommended an independent watchdog be created to supervise the dangerous cleanup. And it wanted ongoing research funded to find a permanent way to deal with the former gold mine’s deadly legacy, as well as the health and environmental effects of the cleanup.

It also disagreed with federal plans to maintain the frozen arsenic in perpetuity, pointing out forever is a long time. said the board’s report last June:

[quote]The public (does) not have any confidence the (government) can be trusted to fund and actively manage the site forever as proposed.[/quote]

The board recommended a 100-year limit on the time the arsenic can be kept frozen underground. It also said the plan must be reviewed every 20 years.

All those suggestions have survived a consultation process with federal bureaucrats, and have made it into the final draft of the board’s recommendations, submitted this week.

“The board carefully weighed what it got from those parties,” said board manager Alan Ehrlich. “We believe that their underlying interests remain in the recommended measures.”

The recommendations now go before Northern Development Minister Bernard Valcourt.

That document is the result of consultations that began in 2008. It proposes the freezing of 237,000 tonnes of highly toxic and soluble arsenic underground, with 65 kilometres of refrigerating pipes running through cavernous subterranean storage chambers.

There are also 13.5 million tonnes of arsenic-contaminated tailings on the land above. The 95-hectare site contains many structures that are further contaminated with arsenic and other poisons, from asbestos to dioxins.

Some of the structures are in such bad shape the government was forced to apply for emergency permits to take them down last summer before toxins were released.

The latest cost estimate for the entire project is $903 million — all which will be paid by taxpayers.

Alberta’s wild horse round up tramples on cowboy culture

February 10, 2014Species At RiskfeaturedCanadian Press

Alberta-wild-horse-round-up-tramples-on-cowboy-culture — A recent wild horse cull in Australia (photo: animaljusticeparty.org)

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press

CALGARY – Alberta’s decision to cull its wild horse population is at odds with the province’s western heritage, say critics who want the plan cancelled immediately.

One licence has already been issued by Alberta Environment to capture up to 200 feral horses in the central Alberta area around Sundre.

That angers opponents who worry that many of the horses are destined for slaughterhouses or will die during the roundup.

Said Anita Virginello, one of about 50 protesters in Calgary on Thursday:

[quote]Why are we killing our horses? We live in Alberta. We pride ourselves on horse culture, we’re home to the Calgary Stampede, numerous rodeos and ranches.[/quote]

She suggested it is hypocritical for Alberta to promote its cowboy culture when the province is “the horse slaughter capital of Canada.”

“There’s duplicity in that and it has to change.”

Government: Time to rein in wild horse population problem

The government says the feral horse population is continuing to balloon and numbers need to be balanced.

Said Carrie Sancartier, a spokeswoman for Alberta Environment and Sustainable Development:

[quote]It’s actually a capture…not a cull. What we’re trying to do is balance the users of the grassland in that area.[/quote]

“The feral horses eat the grass, but (so do) wildlife such as deer and elk, and this grass is quite sensitive to overgrazing, so we have put in place a capture season to remove a small portion of the feral horses.”

Sancartier said the number of horses in the Sundre area increased to 980 last year from 778 the year before. The department is confident about the count, which is done at the same time every year by helicopter, she said.

The horses are descendants of domestic animals used in logging and mining operations in the early 1900s.

More science needed before cull

Joe Anglin, environment critic for the Opposition Wildrose party, said there isn’t enough scientific evidence to support a cull.

“We don’t have answers to any questions and now they’re going to move forward and cull the herd,” said Anglin, who represents the Sundre area in the legislature.

“If there’s about 1,000 horses … what’s the appropriate size of the herd for the habitat and what we have? How do you make a decision if you don’t know if the habitat and the range can sustain the existing size?”

The Alberta government last issued a capture order in 2011 and 216 horses were removed. Sancartier understands that some people are upset.

“It is very emotional and we certainly understand that, but we’re also trying to manage the resource for all users, the feral horses as well as wildlife and livestock.”

Anglin said most Albertans are probably opposed to the plan.

“A lot of Albertans identify with the horse culture. It’s something that’s sort of germane to our past of independence and strength.

“It fits into the Alberta psyche, so there’s a lot of emotion attached to the issue.”

The roundup is being allowed until March 1.

$Alberta fracking licenses soar by 650 per cent, documents reveal$

Alberta fracking licenses soar by 650%, documents reveal

February 4, 2014Energy and Resources, Fracking, Oil&GasfeaturedCanadian Press

Fracking on the rise in Alberta, documents reveal — Photo: Damien Gillis

by Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

EDMONTON – Alberta New Democrats say newly released documents show fracking has become an unregulated free-for-all in the province with no regard for the impact on groundwater or on people’s health.

NDP Leader Brian Mason presented information Tuesday provided under freedom-of-information laws that shows the number of hydraulic fracturing licences granted by the province soared 647 per cent last year to 1,516.

Water withdrawals increasing dramatically

Mason said the amount of water allocated and used for fracking has increased even faster.

“Most Albertans don’t realize that fracking in Alberta is almost completely unregulated,” he told a legislature news conference.

“And it is increasing on a dramatic scale without any understanding of what the potential consequences will be.”

He said the water loss alone is sobering, with more than 17 million cubic metres used in 2013.

[quote]This is an enormous amount of groundwater. It’s pumped into the ground, it’s polluted by chemicals and it’s never seen again.[/quote]

Fracking blasts pressurized water and chemicals into underlying rocks to release trapped natural gas and oil.

Fracking divides communities

It has changed the game on North American resource extraction in the last decade — fuelling an oil and gas boom in North Dakota and delivering a 15 per cent overall production increase south of the border, according to Alberta government data.

It has also resulted in a backlash from environmentalists and from homeowners who live near fracking sites. Their main concern is polluted groundwater and aquifers.

In Lethbridge, homeowners and city council are fighting an application by Calgary-based Goldenkey Oil to drill three wells using vertical hydraulic fracturing within city limits and within one kilometre of where people live.

The legislature members for Lethbridge — Progressive Conservatives Bridget Pastoor and Greg Weadick — have told residents they are making sure concerns are heard. Mason said they two need to go farther and actively fight the development.

[quote]They’re mealy-mouthed hedging on the whole question.

[/quote]

Too late for Alberta fracking moratorium?

Fracking has brought with it controversy in other provinces. Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Quebec are re-evaluating its benefits versus the consequences of environmental damage.

Mason said it’s too late for a moratorium on fracking in Alberta.

“The horse is kind of out of the barn. It’s a mainstream activity now.”

He suggested Premier Alison Redford’s government should undertake an independent scientific review of hydraulic fracturing and use independent groundwater monitoring before further projects get approved.

Environment Minister Robin Campbell disagreed with Mason. He said in a news release that “Alberta has strict regulations that apply to all oil and gas development regardless of the technology being used.”

Campbell also said concerns of environmental damage have not been borne out.

“To date, there has not been a documented case of hydraulic fracturing fluids contaminating a domestic water well in Alberta. For anybody to claim that the water supply is at risk is completely false,” said Campbell.

“All water licence applications are carefully reviewed to ensure no significant impacts to our environment or other water users.”

Salmon farms net more tax dollars from Harper Govt to grow exports

February 4, 2014Oceans, Salmon Farming and AquaculturefeaturedCanadian Press

CAMPBELL RIVER, Canada – The federal government is giving $21,000 to British Columbia salmon farmers to research best practices around the world, more than a year after a $26-million public inquiry made a litany of recommendations.

Conservative MP John Duncan says the funds will allow the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association to review international standards and practices in fish farming in order to identify potential improvements in the province.

The association will then develop a plan for the B.C.’s farmed salmon industry to maintain world-leading standards.

But critics says the federal government has done little to implement the measures already identified by the federal public inquiry into the collapse of the Fraser River sockeye run in 2009.

The Cohen commission made 75 recommendations in its October 2012 report, which raised questions about the effects on wild salmon from salmon farming in nets in the open ocean.

Duncan says the funds will help the B.C. fish farming industry improve confidence in its products, attract investment and increase exports.

Read: Salmon farms get tax dollars for dead fish, provide few jobs

State Dept. report rumoured to bode well for Keystone XL pipeline

January 30, 2014Climate Change, Climate Science, Energy and Resources, Pipelines and SupertankersfeaturedCanadian Press

by Alexander Panetta, The Canadian Press

WASHINGTON D.C., United States – Canadian officials say they’re encouraged by what they’re hearing about a long-awaited report on the environmental impact of the Keystone XL pipeline that could be released imminently by the U.S. State Department.

Those sources in Washington and Ottawa say they’ve been told the report could be ready for release within a few days — and that it will bolster the case for the controversial energy project.

“What we’re hearing is that it’s going to be positive for the project — and therefore positive for Canada,” said one diplomat in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he hadn’t seen the report himself, although he had discussed its contents with American contacts.

“The rumours certainly are that it’s very thorough and that the analysis will support the project.”

He said there was optimism amongst Canadian officials but no celebration just yet: “You’re not going to be seeing people high-fiving and toasting with champagne,” he said.

“It’s just another step (in the process).”

Canada ramps up pipeline pressure

Earlier this month, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird was in Washington pleading for a decision soon. He said enough time had been lost on the project and didn’t want to see another construction season wasted.

His U.S. counterpart, John Kerry, responded that there would be no fast-tracking the process.

The actual writing of the report began in August, according to the Canadian source in D.C. With the threat of almost-certain lawsuits looming, regardless of what the final Keystone decision might be, he said he’d heard from U.S. officials that the report authors were under pressure to be especially rigorous.

“What we need is an (environmental impact statement),” he said, “that is so thoroughly done that it will stand up to litigation.”

The report is the latest environmental impact statement on the $7-billion TransCanada project to come from the State Department, which has jurisdiction because the pipeline crosses an international boundary.

Supporters say pipeline won’t significantly affect climate change

The last report, released a year ago, concluded the project would not significantly impact the rate of oilsands development or crude oil demand, nor would it pose any greater risk to the environment than other modes of transportation. President Barack Obama has since declared that he will only approve the pipeline if it can be shown that it will not significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions.

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said Wednesday that he expected the forthcoming report to draw the same conclusions as the last one. “There are no new facts on the ground,” Oliver said. “So you know, it’s to be expected that they would come out in the same way.”

Once that step is taken, the U.S. administration will conduct a 90-day review to determine if the project is in the national interest.

Not so fast…

Another Canadian diplomat warned against concluding that the report’s release is automatically imminent. Even if it’s slated to come in the next few days, there’s always a chance someone, somewhere, could hold up its release.

For starters, the accepted wisdom in Washington has been that the State Department document would not be released until an inspector general’s review of conflict-of-interest allegations against a consultant working on the report.

That review into the activities of contractor Environmental Resources Managament came after news that several of its consultants working on the project had also worked for TransCanada and its subsidiaries, without that previous work having been disclosed.

Gary Doer, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., refused to speculate on the timing or content.

“We have no certainty on the timing,” Doer said in an interview.

But he expressed faith that the Canadian position would prevail: that the pipeline would be the safest, cleanest way to ship oil that would be transported to the U.S., one way or the other.

Oil-by-rail spills used to promote pipelines

Referring to train accidents, including the tragedy in Lac-Megantic, Que., Doer said events since the last State Department review had only served to reinforce the earlier conclusion.

“We believe that the facts have, regrettably, become only stronger on oil vs. rail,” he said. “We believe that (the earlier conclusion by the State Department) will be maintained: higher cost, higher (greenhouse gases) without a pipeline.”

A State Department spokesperson wouldn’t confirm anything.

“The State Department is working on the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Final SEIS), addressing issues in more than 1.5 million public comments, as appropriate. There is no time line for the release of the Final SEIS,” the spokeswoman said in an email. “The Department continues to review the Presidential Permit application for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline in a rigorous, transparent, and objective manner.”

The Common Sense Canadian

Critical discussion of key issues shaping our economy and environment.