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What Kinder Morgan is Keeping Secret About its Trans Mountain Spill Response Plans
What Kinder Morgan is Keeping Secret About its Trans Mountain Spill Response Plans
Kinder Morgan, the company currently seeking permission to nearly triple the capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline to carry Albertan crude to the west coast, has engaged in a protracted fight with the province of British Columbia in an effort to keep its oil spill response plans a secret.
The company alleges its motivation has to do with ‘security concerns’ although a look back at the to and fro with the province of B.C. paints a story of either incompetence or pure, defenseless hubris.
Either way, what Kinder Morgan is refusing to produce for B.C. and other intervenors in the pipeline review process, the company willingly disclosed south of the border for portions of the pipeline that extend to Washington State.
A read through the detailed spill response plans Kinder Morgan has in place for the U.S. shows just how far the company went to prove they can handle a pipeline spill.
It also highlights how outlandish it is that Kinder Morgan has not released similarly-detailed plans to the province of B.C.
It is also troubling that Kinder Morgan expects the government of B.C. to consent to a massive pipeline expansion — the proposal calls for a twinning of the pipeline which would lead to a fivefold increase in tanker traffic — without adequate assurances the best available emergency plans are in place.
So, what did Kinder Morgan tell Washington State that it refuses to tell B.C.?
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Kitamaat Village evacuated after 3 days without power due to near record snowfall
Kitamaat Village evacuated after 3 days without power due to near record snowfall
Residents had to cut through fallen trees with chainsaws to gain road access
B.C.’s Haisla First Nation ordered the evacuation of Kitamaat Village and its 800 residents on Saturday night, three days after the community lost power following a major snowstorm.
Many residents are staying at the Kitimat Riverlodge Leisure Centre, about 15 kilometres north in the town of Kitimat.
Others are staying with family and friends.
The small towns of Kitimat and Terrace were hit with heavy snow earlier this week — nearly two metres of snow from a Pineapple Express weather system was dumped on the region.
The record for a 24-hour snowfall, set on Feb. 5, 1961, was 112 cm. Weather officials say Kitimat came close with 109 cm of snow in a 24-hour period.
Evacuation ordered over Facebook
In a notice posted to Facebook on Saturday, Haisla First Nation chief councillor Ellis Ross warned of a short timeline for the Sunday morning evacuation — the road in and out of the village would be open for just three hours.
“If you have the means to get to town or somewhere else besides Kitamaat Village, please be gone before 8 a.m. PT. Anytime after 8 a.m., don’t even try. The crews will be working and there will be no traffic allowed,” the notice said.
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Alaskans Ring Alarm Bells Over Potential for More Mount Polley Disasters As B.C. Pushes Forward With New Mines
Alaskans Ring Alarm Bells Over Potential for More Mount Polley Disasters As B.C. Pushes Forward With New Mines
Worried Alaskans who fear lucrative fisheries and tourism industries are at risk from lax B.C. oversight of mine safety are meeting with state officials next week to ask the U.S. State Department to push for more input on mine development along the border of northwest B.C. and southeast Alaska.
“We are calling for an equal seat at the table. We want equal representation on the part of Americans and Alaskans when it comes to how these watersheds are developed,” said Heather Hardcastle, a commercial salmon fisher based in Juneau.
“We take all the risks and the costs and get none of the benefits.”
Hardcastle is a member of a coalition of Alaskan mayors, First Nations, businessmen and fishers who were horrified by the Mount Polley tailings pond collapse last August. Their concerns were exacerbated by last week’s provincial government report that found a weak foundation and design were responsible for the failure that saw an estimated 25 million cubic metres of waste water and toxic sludge flood from the copper and gold mine’s tailings pond into rivers and lakes.
Although the unidentified glacial layer under the dam and design changes that resulted in overly steep slopes on the embankment were pinpointed as the main causes, the report refers to multiple problems, ranging from over-topping to questionable safety margins.
The picture of failure – and the seeming inability of provincial or company inspectors to identify the problems – is raising already elevated apprehensions in Alaska, where the Red Chris Mine began operating Tuesday.
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Did Alberta Just Break a Fracking Earthquake World Record?
Did Alberta Just Break a Fracking Earthquake World Record?
Hydraulic fracturing, a technology used to crack open difficult oil and gas formations, appears to have set off a swarm of earthquakes near Fox Creek, Alberta, including a record-breaking tremor with a felt magnitude of 4.4 last week.
That would likely make it the largest felt earthquake ever caused by fracking, a development that experts swore couldn’t happen a few years ago.
Fracking operations in British Columbia’s Montney shale generated similar seismic activity of that magnitude last year, and earthquake scientists at Ontario’s Western University are still analyzing the two events to see which is the largest.
“The location of the earthquake is consistent with being induced by hydraulic fracturing operations,” confirmed Peter Murchland, a spokesman for the Alberta Energy Regulator.
“The AER regards all changes in seismicity that have the potential to indicate an increased risk associated with hydrocarbon production seriously,” Murchland added.
Jeffrey Gu, a physics professor at the University of Alberta, said the Alberta Geological Survey and other agencies were investigating the Fox Creek swarm, which hit about 260 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. But Gu said he could not disclose their findings at this time. He offered no details on the scale or scope of the investigation.
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Tanking Asia Gas Prices Makes BC LNG ‘Not Viable,’ Expert Says
Tanking Asia Gas Prices Makes BC LNG ‘Not Viable,’ Expert Says
A liquified natural gas industry, as currently promoted by British Columbia’s Liberal government, is not viable at current natural gas prices, and the proposed industry tax regime actually “gives a subsidy to the LNG industry,” according to a royalty expert.
Jim Roy, a former royalty advisor to the Alberta government of Peter Lougheed and now a private Edmonton-based consultant, said the profitability of any liquefied natural gas industry in the province in truth depends on artificially high natural gas prices in China.
The natural gas price in B.C. needs to be less than half the price of natural gas in China for the nearly 24 proposed LNG projects in the province to be economic, but that differential is rapidly narrowing, Roy said.
Not one proposed LNG project in B.C. has made a final investment decision yet.
Since the advent of falling oil prices, the spot price for natural gas — the so-called Japanese Korea Marker — has plummeted. Global LNG prices are tied to oil prices.
When the B.C. government announced its liquefied natural gas push in 2012, the volatile Asian gas price was as high as $16 per million British Thermal Units (MMBtu), or more than triple North American prices.
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B.C. Child’s Death Linked To Enterovirus D68
B.C. Child’s Death Linked To Enterovirus D68.
VANCOUVER – The death of a B.C. child has become the third fatality in the province linked to the enterovirus D68 infection.
Dr. Danuta Skowronski, an infectious disease specialist with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, said Saturday the child was under the age of five when it died in November and the agency was notified last week.
The deaths of an elderly person and young adult have also been associated with the respiratory virus, and Skowronski said the patients had multiple underlying medical conditions or asthma.
Because of privacy issues, Skowronski said she couldn’t reveal the child’s gender or age.
“Like the other two, we can’t say with certainty whether that infection was causally related with the death or in what way in may have contributed, so right now we’re describing it as a death in association with enterovirus D68 confirmation,” she said.
B.C. avian flu virus has Asian origin new to North America – British Columbia – CBC News
B.C. avian flu virus has Asian origin new to North America – British Columbia – CBC News.
The avian flu virus involved in an outbreak in British Columbia is related to a deadly strain that has spread through Asia and is now affecting North American poultry for the first time, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says.
Experts say the presence of an avian flu virus with Asian lineage does not increase the danger to humans — which remains very low — but it could pose a significant risk to the poultry industry.
Nearly 250,000 chickens and turkeys are either dead or set to be euthanized due to avian flu, which has infected 11 sites in B.C.’s Fraser Valley since the beginning of the month.
Officials have already identified the subtype as a highly pathogenic, or high-path, strain of H5N2. Viruses with high pathogenicity kill birds, while their low-path counterparts typically do not.
The agency said tests have determined the virus contains genes both from H5N2, which is common to North American wild birds, as well as genes from a high-path Eurasian strain of H5N8. It keeps the label ofH5N2 because its N gene is from H5N2.
“This is the first time a Eurasian lineage highly pathogenic H5 virus has caused an outbreak of avian influenza in poultry in North America,” it said in a statement.
B.C. KSM Gold Mine Gets Environmental Approval From Federal Government
B.C. KSM Gold Mine Gets Environmental Approval From Federal Government.
The federal government approved the environmental assessment application on Friday for the massive KSM gold and copper mine in northwestern British Columbia near the Alaska border.
The mine, which is owned by Seabridge Gold Inc., is considered the largest undeveloped gold reserve in the world and also has copper, silver and molybdenum deposits.
The project would be just 35 kilometres from the Alaska border, and in August the state took the rare step of asking the Canadian government for involvement in the approval process over concerns for its rivers and fish.
But the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency concluded in its report that the KSM project isn’t likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.
Seabridge CEO Rudi Fronk said the company was confident it would receive the approval because it has spent six years and $200 million working with government, local First Nations and the state of Alaska.
Site C dam approved by B.C. government – British Columbia – CBC News
Site C dam approved by B.C. government – British Columbia – CBC News.
B.C. has approved the $9 billion Site C dam — a massive hydroelectric project that would flood a large area of the Peace River Valley in northeastern B.C.
In making the announcement, Premier Christy Clark said the Site C Clean Energy Project will provide B.C. residents with a reliable source of power for the next 100 years for the least cost to the taxpayer.
“Affordable, reliable, clean electricity is the backbone of British Columbia’s economy,” said Clark. “Site C will support our quality of life for decades to come and will enable continued investment and a growing economy.”
Energy Minister Bill Bennett said B.C.’s electricity rates are the third lowest in North America and the fourth lowest for commercial and industrial users.
But he said B.C.’s population is expected to increase by more than a million people and the province’s electricity demand to grow by 40 per cent over the next 20 years
Is The Canadian LNG Export Dream Dead?
Is The Canadian LNG Export Dream Dead?.
Lower oil prices have killed off major plans for liquefied natural gas exports from Canada’s west coast.
On December 2 the state-owned oil company of Malaysia, Petronas, decided to shelve plans to build an enormous LNG export terminal in British Columbia, citing the falling price of oil. It is common for LNG contracts to be priced using a formula linked to the price of crude oil, so declining oil prices pushes down prices for LNG.
Petronas’ Pacific NorthWest LNG, as it was known, was a proposed $32 billion export terminal that would send LNG to Asia. The decision highlights how competitive global LNG trade has become, despite growing demand. Greenfield projects, such as Pacific Northwest LNG, face steep startup costs that become prohibitive when oil prices fall.
Related: Russia-China Deal Could Kill U.S. LNG Exports
Although low oil prices may have been the icing on the cake, Canadian LNG projects were facing serious obstacles before oil prices plummeted. There is stiff competition from a slew of LNG projects already under construction in the U.S. and Australia, which will come online much earlier than anything from British Columbia.
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Kinder Morgan Pipeline Protest Sees More People Arrested After Crossing Police Line
Kinder Morgan Pipeline Protest Sees More People Arrested After Crossing Police Line.
VANCOUVER – About a dozen more people have been arrested at a pipeline protest in a conservation area in Vancouver.
The protesters were taken away Saturday after crossing a police line on Burnaby Mountain, where crews have been conducting survey work for the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
Arrests began at the site Thursday, four days after a court deadline passed for activists to leave the survey site.
Kinder Morgan, the company that’s proposing the expansion, says drilling has begun at one of two, 250-metre-deep holes and that work trucks, crews and their equipment will continue to move onto the mountain throughout the weekend.
If approved, the expanded pipeline could ship almost 900,000 barrels a day of crude from Alberta to the B.C. coast.
Opponents argue the increased quantity of oil being transported would increase the risk of a devastating spill.
Kinder Morgan Begins Survey Work On Burnaby Mountain As Protests Continue
Kinder Morgan Begins Survey Work On Burnaby Mountain As Protests Continue.
BURNABY, B.C. – First Nations vowed to stand in unity with protesters as police kept up arrests Friday in a Metro Vancouver conservation area where crews resumed survey work for the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
Shortly after activists announced they would do whatever it takes to stymie the project, a group began marching up Burnaby Mountain in the pouring rain.
More arrests quickly followed.
Charlene Aleck, a Tsleil-Waututh councillor, told a gathering of protesters at the base of the mountain that members of her First Nations band would join the actions aimed at protecting their homeland and waters.
“For the Tsleil-Waututh nation, it is our sacred obligation,” she said to a cheering crowd. “In our shared opposition to Kinder Morgan, we are many people paddling one canoe. Our united opposition and the sum of our collective voices will ensure this pipeline is never built.”
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Lessons from B.C.’s carbon tax | Blog Posts | Pembina Institute
Lessons from B.C.’s carbon tax | Blog Posts | Pembina Institute.
It’s been hailed as an environmental and economic “success,” a “textbook case” in carbon pricing and “on the right track” toward good economic policy. British Columbia’s carbon tax has been in place for six years, and all available evidence shows it’s working.
Here’s the big news: per capita fuel use covered by the tax has dropped by 16 per cent in the province relative to 2008 (the year the carbon tax came into effect), and so too has carbon pollution. That’s good for the environment. Meantime, B.C.’s economy has outpaced the rest of Canada’s over the same period. That’s great for jobs and the economy.
Our new backgrounder summarizes B.C.’s terrific success with its carbon tax. The economic, environmental and social lessons are worth reflecting upon — both in B.C. and in jurisdictions considering similar carbon pricing approaches, as what we see in B.C. is a leading example of how to price carbon effectively.
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Canada regulator says Kinder Morgan wins battle with B.C. suburb | Canada | Reuters
Canada regulator says Kinder Morgan wins battle with B.C. suburb | Canada | Reuters.
CALGARY Alberta (Reuters) – Canada’s energy regulator ruled on Thursday that Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP must be allowed access to a park in a Vancouver suburb in order to complete technical work for the planned C$5.4 billion($4.81 billion) expansion of its Trans Mountain oil pipeline.
In its first order on record to a Canadian municipality, the National Energy Board said the City of Burnaby must allow the company to carry out surveys and studies at Burnaby Mountain, a conservation site.
Burnaby sought to block the company’s access to the site after city officials and crews hired by Kinder Morgan clashed last month over whether the company was allowed to cut down a handful of trees on the mountain to do survey work for the new route, work Kinder Morgan said the National Energy Board had approved.
