Trans Mountain pipeline shut as crews clean spill in Abbotsford

Crews worked to contain a crude oil spill from the Trans Mountain pipeline at the Sumas pump station in Abbotsford on Saturday.

The company said in a news release that an alarm was received earlier in the day and the pipeline was immediately shut down as crews went to investigate.

The spill has since been contained, and crews are working to clean up the site.

The pipeline remains closed, Trans Mountain said, and an incident command post has been set up to manage the cleanup. Local authorities have been informed as well.

An investigation into the cause of the spill is underway. Trans Mountain has not released information on how much oil was spilled.

The Transportation Safety Board said it has also deployed an investigator to the spill that occurred in a pump station.

The incident comes during Trans Mountain’s plans for expansion have been fiercely opposed by activists, who argue the pipeline is a threat to the environment.

The work has gone ahead, however, and the company begins pipeline construction near Kamloops this month.

The Crown-owned pipeline moves about 300,000 barrels of crude per day from Alberta to B.C.’s terminal near Vancouver.

The Sumas Terminal contains six storage tanks with a shell capacity of approximately 715,000 barrels.

At the Sumas delivery point in Abbotsford, the pump station routes crude oil through to the Burnaby Terminal and connects with the Trans Mountain Puget Sound Pipeline, which has ships oil to Washington state refineries in Anacortes, Cherry Point and Ferndale.