UPDATE: June 14 – Kinder Morgan says crews have completed the repair of the Trans Mountain pipeline and expect to restart the pipeline by mid-afternoon on Friday.
All contaminated soil has been removed and Kinder Morgan and the National Energy Board now says the spill was less than 1 cubic metre (less than six barrels).
Previous coverage:
The Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline near Kingsvale, near Merritt, has been shut down to prevent any more oil from leaking into the surrounding area.
The National Energy Board (NEB) says it is investigating the spill which was reported on Wednesday afternoon.
Andy Galarnyk with Kinder Morgan told Global News the spill is about 12 barrels in size, and was detected while performing regular maintenance on the pipeline.
Galarnyk says one of the crew members noticed a small pool of what looked like crude oil.
They determined the substance was in fact crude, prompting a precautionary shutdown of the pipeline.
Galarnyk says they have contacted the authorities and started an investigation, but the cause of the leak is not known so far.
Work is now underway to repair the line and the release is fully contained. There is no impact to any water course and no threat to the public. It is not known when the pipeline will resume operation.
The NEB says there is no immediate safety concern for local residents and precautions are being taken to ensure continued public safety.
Rebecca Taylor from the NEB says the contaminated soil is being removed.
There is no time frame for reopening the pipeline, but Galarnyk says they expect the shutdown will not affect consumers.
According to the Canadian Press, the Trans Mountain pipeline ships 300,000 barrels of oil products a day from Alberta to the Lower Mainland and Washington State.
The pipeline has been in operation for almost 60 years, and was expanded in 2008 as part of the Anchor Loop Project. About 158 km of pipeline was twinned between Hinton, Alberta, and Hargreaves, British Columbia.
Kinder Morgan would like to expand the pipeline further and they have filed preliminary plans to do so.
They want to construct a second pipeline from Alberta to the Lower Mainland in B.C., which would carry 540,000 barrels a day. This increase would mean the Trans Mountain pipeline’s capacity would increase from 890,000 barrels a day, from its current 300,000.
We will update this post when more information becomes available.
– With files from The Canadian Press
Comments