National Post (National Edition)
Cities fret over cost of spills
Enbridge Ontario-quebec line reversal
Acoalition of Ontario municipalities is raising concerns about plans to reverse the flow of Enbridge Inc.’ s Line 9 pipeline to Montreal, reviving the spectre of a 2010 rupture on the company’s Lakehead system near Marshall, Mich. that spilled more than 20,000 barrels of crude oil into local waterways.
Enbridge wants to send oil east along a 639-kilometre section of the 1970s-era pipeline from North Westover, Ont., near Hamilton, giving Quebec refineries owned by Suncor Energy Inc. and Ultramar Ltd. access to cheaper crude oil from Alberta and North Dakota’s Bakken formation. Enbridge has also applied to raise capacity on the entire Sarnia-toMontreal route to 300,000 barrels a day from 240,000 barrels.
Major urban centres along the pipeline’s path, including Hamilton, Mississauga, Toronto and Kingston, have written to the National Energy Board expressing concern about the integrity of Line 9 and Enbridge’s ability to respond to an oil spill following the Michigan rupture. Their interest in the application reflects a lingering anxiety among municipalities about oil pipelines, more than two years after a report by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board criticized Enbridge’s monitoring procedures and training of control-centre personnel.
“That twigged a lot of concerns because that was quite a catastrophic spill that is still being cleaned up,” said Guy Paparella, director of growth planning in the planning and economic development department of Hamilton, where he said the pipeline passes through several wetlands.
Enbridge’s U.S. affiliate, Enbridge Energy Partners LP, said in a regulatory filing last week the cleanup tab for the 2010 rupture and spill could reach nearly $1-billion, or $175-million above an earlier estimate of $820-million, after it was ordered back to the site by the U.S. government to conduct additional containment and recovery of submerged oil.
The $129-million Line 9 reversal and expansion project stands to save Quebec refiners up to $23-billion over 30 years, according to Enbridge estimates, although that figure could be less as pipeline bottlenecks elsewhere are cleared.
Throughput on the line, which was first commissioned in 1976 to carry oil east then reversed in 1999 amid changing market conditions, averaged 64,000 barrels per day between 2009 and 2011, Enbridge said in filings. The volume is a fraction of the pipeline’s 240,000-barrel capacity.
City governments hold little sway over federally regulated infrastructure. Enbridge has met with “more than a dozen” city councils, as well as local conservation authorities and aboriginal groups to address concerns and issues along the route, a company spokesperson said via email.
“I hope this gives you a clear idea of how seriously we take these concerns and how com- mitted we are to addressing them thoroughly and to the satisfaction of all stakeholders,” Graham White said in the email.
The Line 9 expansion and reversal is underpinned by agreements with Suncor Energy Products Partnerships Inc. and Ultramar, whose Quebec refineries can process 135,000 and 265,000 barrels of oil a day, respectively.
A third, unnamed party “with refining interests in Eastern Canada” has also signed a transportation agreement, bringing the confirmed support for the project to 275,000 barrels per day, with 25,000 barrels leftover for spot capacity.
Much of the flow along a reversed Line 9 would comprise light oil that would replace Atlantic basin crudes currently imported from North Africa, the Middle East and the North Sea, Enbridge has said.
The pipeline is also expected to transport heavy slates of Western Canadian crude — it’s unclear yet how much — as refinery configurations in Quebec change.
Suncor chief executive Steve Williams has publicly mused about reviving corporate plans to add cokers needed to process heavier, sour varieties of crude to the company’s Montreal refinery if the Line 9 reversal is approved, for instance.
Environmental groups Equiterre and the New Yorkbased Natural Resources Defense Council nevertheless view the proposed reversal and expansion as an incremental step in a plot to export Alberta bitumen from the East Coast of the United States via Portland, Me., to the U.S. Gulf Coast — a sort of end-run around opposition to TransCanada Corp.’s controversial Keystone XL project. Enbridge disputes the claim.
Municipal concerns are more local. Line 9 cuts through the north end of Toronto, roughly along Finch Avenue. Officials there want to ensure the city is not on the hook for cleanup costs in the event of a rupture, said Graham Rempe, a staff lawyer heading up the Enbridge file.
“The question then becomes what if the worst takes place and that coverage is not adequate?” he asked. “Will we be able to recover our costs?”