Oil pipeline that runs through Mississauga still off

Mississauga.com
Feb. 5, 2015
By Jason Spencer

Energy company Enbridge is still waiting for a decision from the National Energy Board to recommence use of an oil pipeline that travels through Mississauga.

NEB spokesperson Katherine Murphy said the federal agency is still reviewing Enbridge's most recent submission regarding shutoff valve placements along Line 9B as well as its "watercourse crossing management plan."

"There is no time limit for the Board's review of conditions," Murphy wrote in an email to The News on Monday.

"Conditions are legal requirements; they are designed to protect the public and the environment."

The conditions were set following approval of changes to the nearly 40-year-old pipeline that includes reversing the flow, increasing its capacity from 240,000 barrels per day to 300,000 and transporting heavier crude.

In its entirety, the 833-kilometre pipeline runs from Sarnia to Montreal and changes are being carried out in two phases.

The second phase, Line 9B, was submitted in March 2012 and approved two years later. That section runs from New Westover, Ont. to Montreal.

Since the Line 9B project began, Enbridge spokesperson Graham White said, several safety measures have been taken, including setting up a damage prevention station in late December in Mississauga that will serve the GTA.

White said in an email to The News on Wednesday that the main function of staff at the station is prevention, but they are also trained as first responders in the event of an incident to reduce response times.

Enbridge deems the area of Hwy. 403 and Cawthra Road a high-risk spot along the line - due to factors such as population size and closeness to water, not pipe condition.

Enbridge has been waiting since last October for the NEB to decide on whether the condition relating to the valves is met before re-starting the line, said White.

The company has installed an additional 17 shutoff valves, totalling 74 along the line.

"Only when the NEB is satisfied that the information meets the requirements of a specific condition will the company be authorized to proceed with the activities associated with the condition," said the NEB's Katherine Murphy.

Concerns over the line transporting heavier crude were raised at a meeting in Lakeview about two months ago. Headed by the Toronto chapter of the Council of Canadians, an NGO opposed to tar sands oil, a representative from the group told a small gathering at the Promenade Gallery about potential issues a spill from Line 9 could pose to the waterways it crosses, including the Credit River.