Federal investigators are in Edmonton, looking into operations at the Enbridge control centre. The investigation has been launched by the National Energy Board, following criticism from the US National Transportation Safety Board.
Enbridge has faced scrutiny for how it handled an oil spill in Michigan. In July 2010, a ruptured pipeline spilled about three million litres of oil into the Kalamazoo River.
Chief Engineer with the National Energy Board, Iain Colquhoun, says the NEB holds companies accountable for public safety and environmental protection.
“This kind of investigation would be exactly the sort of thing we would do as a compliance activity,” Colquhoun explains.
He says the investigation will be looking at things that would have improved since the Kalamazoo spill. He says investigators will be looking at two things in particular.
“It covers the equipment that’s used to monitor the pipeline and to detect anomalies in the operation of the pipeline and to correct those. And also, the human factor. The interaction of the Enbridge employees with those date.”
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Enbridge employees will be present for the two day investigation, which wraps up Thursday. Enbridge President of Liquids Pipelines, Steve Wuori says the company welcomes the investigation.
“We really want to be able to show them that it is a world class control centre. It is the largest and most sophisticated oil pipeline control centre in the world,” says Wuori.
Enbridge has been under the microscope in recent months, but Wuori believes the company goes above and beyond what is expected when it comes to safety protocol.
“We announced a number of measures that we’ve taken that go beyond anything that’s in the regulations or the code or industry standards around pipeline wall thickness, around valve placement, around dual leak detection systems and inspection frequencies.”
In hopes or reassuring the public, the company has published a full page ad in Wednesday’s Edmonton Journal, in hopes of showing Albertans its track record.
“We wanted to bring about some of the messaging that we think is important for people to hear concerning the type of company we are, our long history, our safety record,” Wuori explains.
Investigators will be back at the control centre on Thursday. The National Energy Board report could be complete in a few weeks.
With files from Kendra Slugoski.
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