Category Archives: Oil&Gas

This Kinder Morgan tank farm in Abbotsford leaked 110,000 liters of crude oil in January (Christina Toth/Times photo)

Kinder Morgan Plan to Twin Pipeline Triggers Community Concern in Wake of Sumas Mountain Oil Spill

Energy and Resources, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and Supertankers, ,
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Abbotsford, BC – Less than two months after a major oil spill at Kinder Morgan’s Sumas Mountain tank farm, the company announced plans to twin their existing trans mountain infrastructure. The most recent rupture of January 24th leaked approximately 110,000 liters of crude oil, raising major concern from local residents with regards to health and environmental effects.

Residents held a community meeting on February 12th including NEB representative Tim Sullivan, Kinder Morgan Vice President of Operations & Engineering Hugh Harden, and Kinder Morgan Communications Manager Lexa Hobensheild. Residents raised concerns over pollution, absence of effective on-site monitoring , and a lack of timely notification of accidents and spills. Kinder Morgan’s plans for expansion were met with apprehension and a request for a commitment from the company to meaningful public consultation and engagement.

 “After the recent oil spill, there is intensified community concern about the risks associated with this industry. We had just confronted the company about the need to improve their existing operations, and yet without giving us any confirmation that improvements will happen they start taking about expansion,” exclaims John Vissers, concerned resident from Abbotsford. “The federal government has been championing British Columbia as an economic gateway to new markets, but with Kinder Morgan announcing plans to move forward without prior meaningful community consultation, it sets us up to be more of a doormat than a gateway.”

The Trans Mountain Pipeline has been owned and operated by Kinder Morgan Canada Inc. since 2005. This pipeline travels from Edmonton to Greater Vancouver and the Puget Sound. It currently transports up to 300,000 barrels per day of tar sands crude, resulting in more than 60 tankers within the Burrard Inlet. Plans to twin the pipeline would expand export capacity to up to 700,000 bpd. Local communities, First Nations and environmental organizations have criticized the plans for expansion for the increased risks to the environment, community health and violations of Indigenous rights and sovereignty.
 
“Over the past 7 years, Kinder Morgan has had 4 pipeline ruptures within the Fraser Valley, directly exposing local residents to toxic chemicals and polluting precious water and land systems. Twining this pipeline will inevitably increase the risks of leaks and spills that cause irreparable damage to communities and ecosystems,” comments Sheila Muxlow concerned Chilliwack resident. “Given existing criticisms of present day operations from local residents, First Nations and environmental groups, it is an insult to local people for Kinder Morgan to suggest expanding this risky business.”

John Vissers runs a business in Abbotsford that helps make buildings more energy efficient. He’s also a member 10 different environmental groups in his community.

Sheila Muxlow is a concerned resident of Chilliwack, BC, who spent the last 5 years in Edmonton, Alberta, working with directly impacted communities from the front lines of tar sands development.

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Enbridge Lobbying Efforts Helped Kill Major North Coast Conservation Initiative

Energy and Resources, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and Supertankers, ,
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Read this bulletin from West Coast Environmental Law on the links between the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline and the recent cancellation of a multi-year, multi-stakeholder effort to create a new marine conservation arean on BC’s North Coast, titled PNCIMA.

Revelations on Sunday that Enbridge had actively, and successfully, lobbied the federal government to walk away from a decade long planning process with Coastal First Nations and the Province of BC do nothing to help the company’s embattled pipeline and tankers project, or its reputation with First Nations. 

Coastal First Nations, environmental groups and the Province of British Columbia were all shocked last September when the federal government abruptly broke off an agreement on the development of a marine plan for the Pacific North Coast – a plan that had been almost a decade in the making.  The federal government apparently felt that the plan might be co-opted and used against the Enbridge Pipeline, but we argued at the time that the government’s withdrawal actually increases the likelihood of a legal challenge by Coastal First Nations against the pipeline and associated tanker traffic…

…And now we receive word, via the Canadian Press, that Enbridge lobbied the federal government to withdraw from PNCIMA 8 months before the government withdrew from the agreement.  Apparently Enbridge argued that the involvement of Tides Canada – which would have administered the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation funding – would have compromised the PNCIMA process:

“The funding by Tides Canada of the Coastal First Nations and other participants in the PNCIMA initiative raises serious questions about the objectivity of those parties in regards to the process and their oversight of Tides Canada in its administrative role with the PNCIMA initiative,” says one company slide.

“The PNCIMA process is too important to allow it to be hijacked by parties with clear and specific motives beyond the creation of an oceans management plan.”

There is a certain hypocrisy to this position, since Enbridge itself had funded workshops during an earlier stage of the PNCIMA process (albeit not to the extent of the Gordon and Betty Moore funding).  It also occurs to us that Enbridge, who is part of the PNCIMA process, and for that matter the federal government, have a set of “specific motives” in relation to the pipeline and tanker project which go beyond the creation of an oceans management plan.

Read more: http://www.wcel.org/resources/environmental-law-alert/enbridge-linked-pncima-cancellation

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NDP Press Release on Enbridge, Tankers

Canada, Energy and Resources, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and Supertankers, Politics, , ,
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Jan. 10, 2012

NEW DEMOCRATS STAND UP FOR COAST, OPPOSE ENBRIDGE PIPELINE

VICTORIA— As Joint Review Panel hearings on the Enbridge tar sands pipeline begin today, New Democrat MLAs are reaffirming their opposition to the proposal due to serious environmental risks, including crude oil supertankers, and a lack of lasting benefits for people in the region.

“In the communities I represent, a clean environment is part of our way of life,” said Robin Austin, MLA for Skeena. “What I’ve heard my constituents say is that our world famous salmon runs are more important than anything Enbridge has to offer. The people I represent live here and make their lives here. It’s not just a squiggle on a map or a line item on a spreadsheet.”

While discussing the Enbridge tar sands pipeline Liberal premier Christy Clark claimed that “British Columbia’s coast does not just belong to British Columbia,” a view which North Coast MLA Gary Coons says is dangerous and misleading.

“Premier Clark ignores the fact that British Columbians in the northwest would see their livelihoods destroyed and B.C. taxpayers would be left to spend billions to clean up any mess created by Enbridge. It will be the Haida, the Haisla, the Gitga’at, and other First Nations who will lose their breadbasket. It will be the fishers in Prince Rupert who will be left high and dry. It will be the northwest bed and breakfasts and guide outfitters who will go out of business,” said Coons.

Stikine MLA Doug Donaldson said his constituents are concerned that if the pipeline is allowed to go through, it will only be a matter of time before there is a catastrophic pipeline rupture or oil tanker disaster.

“I am very concerned that Premier Clark doesn’t grasp the reality of tanker traffic along our coast. Last February, she compared the north coast to the St. Lawrence and said she didn’t ‘know why we’d ban them necessarily off the west coast’  Well – we have news for the premier. The north coast is not the St. Lawrence,” said Donaldson.

Northwest MLAs Austin, Coons and Donaldson will be making presentations to the review panel as will New Democrat Environment critic Rob Fleming.  New Democrats have long opposed the Enbridge tar sands pipeline because it provides few long-term benefits while posing serious risks to the B.C. environment and economy.

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Audio: Damien Gillis Talks Tar Sands PR, Muzzling of Science on CFUV

Canada, Climate Change, Energy and Resources, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and Supertankers, Politics, Tar Sands, , , , , , ,
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Listen to this interview of Damien Gillis on Victoria’s CFUV 101.9 FM by the Hidden News’ host Mehdi Najari. The pair discuss a range of topics, including the Harper Government’s taxpayer-funded Tar Sands PR campaign and the characterization of environmentalists and citizens opposed to the proposed Enbridge pipelines as radicals and threats to the national interest. What is the world’s scientific community saying about Canada’s muzzling of scientists and cutting off funding to key research projects and regulatory bodies – and how is that damaging Canada’s global reputation? (19 min – from March 7, 2012)

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Veteran North Coast Fisherman Warns of Serious Navigational Risks to Supertankers

Energy and Resources, Fisheries, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and Supertankers, ,
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As a fisherman who has worked his whole life on the coast of BC, I have many concerns about oil tankers leaving Kitamaat (proper spelling double “a” and it means ‘people of the snow’).

All of the discussions, I have heard, have been about concerns regarding pipeline ruptures and what can happen on the land route. My concern is what will happen if there is a loaded oil tanker heading to sea and it  hits a reef or shore or breaks up causing another Exxon Valdez.

Our family has a long history in the area. My father started fishing there in the 30’s and in 1949, at the age of 13, I went out on his seine boat. In 1957 I became a Captain of a  seiner and I fished the area for over 50 years, usually from 5 -20 weeks per year. At present my son operates our family’s seiner and continues to fish this area. Our combined  family’s presence in this area is over 80 years.

I have been hired by Fisheries and Oceans Canada to participate in stock assessments for salmon and herring. In 1968 we were hired by Shell Oil Company to assist in the positioning of Sedco’s drill rig in Hecate Straits.

We have spent so much time in Fisheries and Oceans Canada designated area 6 that lifelong friends – the late Alan Hall of Kitamaat and Johnny Clifton of Hartley Bay – were made. I have seen the waterfall at Butedale frozen solid, bone dry and running so hard you could not tie up your boat.

With our family’s 80 plus years of fishing in the Whale Channel area we have firsthand knowledge of tides, weather, types of fish and bird life. The area from Kitamaat to Hecate Straits is designated Area 6, by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and is the most consistent salmon producing region in British Columbia with runs in the odd and even years.
 
In Area 6 there is:

  1. Within the Central coast area 128 salmon bearing streams
  2. Kitasu Bay to McInnes Island is a major herring spawning  ground
  3. All 5 species of salmon, herring, crab, mussels, clams, abalone, prawns, eulachons, pilchards, hake, geoduck, mackerel, halibut cod, pollock, otters, eagles and many birds, plus whales and porpoises
  4. Tides that fluctuate over 20 feet causing currents of up to 5 knots
  5. Being a region of heavy snow and glaciers there are very strong freshets from May to the end of July
  6. The outflow winds from Douglas Channel can be extreme during summer and winter
  7. Weather in Hecate Straits –  because of strong complex currents, waves have been recorded up to 30 metres. The highest wind gusts recorded for November, December, January, February and March is 180 -190-plus km per hour.

If a ship enters Laredo Channel from Hecate Straits at McInnes Island the tanker would have Lenard Shoal and Moody Bank at the bottom of Aristazabl Island. On the east side of Aristazabl Island there are 2 very  dangerous rocks known as Wilson and Moorhouse. Campania Sound is also a very treacherous body of water from Dupont Island to Hecate Straits.

There are many rocks and to name a few, Bortwick, Cort, Ness, Evans, Cliff and Janion also Yares Shoal. This area is a minefield of reefs. These rocks are spread out between Rennison Island, Banks Island and Campania Island. This route would be extremely dangerous to tanker traffic. Using the Otter Pass route, Nepean rock becomes a very prominent problem for ships’ travel.

Should a major oil spill occur I feel an oil boom would not be able to contain it because of the velocity of the current in this area and the oil could travel 20-50 miles in one 6 hour tide. This area is not the Mediterranean or a lagoon.
 
If a spill occurred in Laredo Channel the herring spawning area at Kitasu Bay to Price Island could be totally destroyed, possibly forever. The eel grass which the herring need to spawn on could be wiped out. Some years over 10,000 tons of herring spawn in this area.
 
A spill at freshet time would be the  most devastating. Due to the differences of its viscosity, salt water is heavier and would be lower and the fresh water being lighter, becomes a shallow layer at the surface. The juvenile salmon live in this fresh water layer as they  migrate to sea. The juvenile salmon jump like raindrops and if they were migrating in a spill area the oil could wipe out an entire run. Some streams could become barren of salmon.
 
I have tried to point out, so people know, the dangers of the entire marine area and what could happen if there is ever a spill. I have spent my entire life around Princess Royal Island and the vicinity.  I personally am totally opposed to the Kitamaat  terminal for oil tankers.

John Brajcich and his family have been commercial fishermen on BC’s north and central coast – where oil supertankers would pass – for some eighty years.

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Rafe Confronts Dix on LNG, Fracking, Enbridge

Canada, Energy and Resources, Fracking, Oceans, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and Supertankers, Politics, Salmon Farming and Aquaculture, Western Canada, , , , , , , , ,
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Rafe Mair pulls no punches in this, the second of a two-part interview with BC NDP Leader Adrian Dix – grilling the potential future premier of BC on Liquid Natural Gas, fracking, the proposed Enbridge pipeline and salmon farms. Will the NDP stand up to Harper over Enbridge and open net pen aquaculture? Why do they favour LNG – and how do they reconcile their support for it with the controversial fracking process that would supply it with much of its gas? Watch and find out!

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Alberta Activist Wiebo Ludwig Dying of Cancer

Energy and Resources, Oil&Gas
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Read this story from the Toronto Star on oil and gas industry foe Wiebo Ludwig’s declining health. (March 3, 2012)

HYTHE, ALTA.—Eco-warrior Wiebo Ludwig is fighting his final battle.

It’s a question of when, not if. Diagnosed last year with cancer of the esophagus, Ludwig, 70, is in palliative care and preparing for death.

Ludwig was rushed to hospital in nearby Grande Prairie last Monday after food became lodged in his throat. Doctors enlarged the stent they first inserted in his esophagus in late January.

The patriarch of a Christian clan returned to the compound of his roughly 60 followers and family near here at Trickle Creek Farm, the 324-hectare parcel of nearly self-sufficient land in northwest Alberta’s Peace River country. The Dutch-born enemy of the oil industry — eco-terrorist, his many foes would label him — has lost 30 pounds in the past month alone.

“It doesn’t bother me,” Ludwig said of his impending death, during a Trickle Creek interview last week. “I’m quite grateful about my life, in many ways a concentrated series of battles. I enjoyed the battles. They were difficult times, but meaningful. I was seldom bored, put it that way.”

Boring is definitely not a word to associate with Wiebo Ludwig.

Ever since he moved here in the mid-1980s, his name has been a lightning rod for deep, bitter controversy over the good and bad things about life in the oilpatch.

Read more: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1140250–wiebo-ludwig-dying-of-cancer-an-interview?bn=1

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Cartoon: Harper Rolling Out the Welcome Mat for China

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Check out this new cartoon from Gerry Hummel highlighting the push to open up BC and Alberta’s fossil fuel resources to emerging Asian markets like China. In recent months both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Resources Minister Joe Oliver have told Canadians and leaders on the world’s stage that the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline will be built despite intense opposition from the public and First Nations in BC.

 

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Photo from flickr - BC Gov Photos

Harper and Clark Playing Dangerous Games with Enbridge

Canada, Energy and Resources, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and Supertankers, Politics, Tar Sands, Western Canada, , , , , ,
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The Premier and the Prime Minister are playing very dangerous games indeed.
 
Prime Minister Harper is acting as though the Enbridge pipeline is a done deal– indeed he’s telling anyone he meets that very thing.

The PM, never much for public opinion at the best of times, cannot see any possible way the general public and First Nations could stand in the way of this ghastly project.
 
He’s relying on the National Energy Board’s Joint Review Panel hearings to allow him to say that the people have had their say so – on with the pipelines! That they will approve of the double pipeline is all but a forgone conclusion and already The PM and his Resources Minister are complaining that the Commission is tiresome and wasting time; however, the time isn’t wasted as far as I’m concerned, for every moment the Commission sits will make more people aware of the egregious environmental insult this project is.
 
Where is Premier Clark? I believe that the provincial government has shared jurisdiction, yet she seems to think if she ducks her head British Columbians won’t notice her.
 
Ms. Clark and the Prime Minister are paying no attention to the fact that the First Nations across the entire project oppose it, but here’s the crunch: if this Tar Sands gunk doesn’t get shipped from the coast there’s no point to pipelines.
 
Premier Clark can’t avoid the tanker issue. On this issue the First Nations are adamant – in Coastal First Nations spokesman Gerald Amos’ words on the tanker traffic, he is nothing if not concise: “It isn’t going to happen.”
 
The issues of the pipelines and tankers are joined at the hip – Enbridge is scarcely going to build pipelines unless the Tar Sands gunk will have customers and customers require tankers to go down the coast.
 
This means that even if Premier Clark can avoid the pipelines issue, she sure as hell can’t avoid the tanker one. To make the cheese more binding, this will be a huge issue by the time the next provincial election comes around in May of 2013.
I have no doubt that the NDP will be unalterably and vocally opposed to the tanker traffic and the premier will have to fish or cut bait. To make it worse, she’s in a Catch 22 position – if she opposes the tanker traffic  many of the right wing of the party will vote Conservative; if she supports it, the centre/left and the crucial swing folks will vote NDP.
 
Both the PM and Clark completely miss the strength of the opposition to the pipelines and tanker traffic – a strength that is growing and will continue to grow.
 
In my lifetime, a long one, I have never seen a more dangerous situation where violence may well not be avoided. I have also never seen such a serious situation be ignored by our political masters.
 
Harper trots around the world to get customers to buy Tar Sands gunk without any serious process to hear the people; while the Premier pretends that it has nothing to do with her.
 
All the while opposition grows and grows – a clear prescription for disaster.
________________________________________________
Rafe’s new book, The Home Stretch can be downloaded onto your computer, iPad, Kobo, or Kindle from amazon.com or kobo.com for the obscenely low price of $9.99
 

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Both Prince Rupert ad Smithers Councils Vote to Oppose Enbridge

Canada, Energy and Resources, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and Supertankers, Politics, Western Canada, , ,
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Check out these two stories from this week, reporting on the town councils of Prince Rupert and Smithers both voting to officially oppose the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipelines. (Feb. 28, 2012)

From the Prince Rupert Northern View:

The Prince Rupert City Council voted unanimously on Monday night to formally oppose the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, making it the third northern BC local government to do so over the past few weeks.

The council has adopted the same resolution that the Skeena Queen Charlotte Regional District (SQCRD) did over a week ago:

“Therefore, be it resolved that the City of Prince Rupert be opposed to any expansion of bulk crude oil tanker traffic as well as bitumen export in Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound in British Columbia.

“And be it further resolved that the City of Prince Rupert petition the federal government to establish a legislated ban on bulk crude oil tanker traffic and bitumen export through the Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound in British Columbia.”

Read more: http://www.thenorthernview.com/news/140677853.html

And from the Smithers Interior News:

In a surprising move Tuesday night, Smithers Council voted to oppose Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline project, joining a growing number of northwestern communities including Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District, Prince Rupert and Terrace.

Just over a month ago Smithers Council had voted to postpone making a decision on the matter until after the federally appointed Joint Review Panel rendered their decision on Enbridge’s proposal. However, after Councillor Phil Brienesse reintroduced his previous motion, which was previously defeated, the vote came back favorably, 5-2.

Read more: http://www.interior-news.com/news/140904483.html

 

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