[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”20″]Almost four years after the spill, cleanup is still ongoing, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently ordered Enbridge to continue dredging the river to remove oil. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s in Canada or somewhere else,” says Brenda Kenny, the president of the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association. Spills “always alert questions, and there are thorough, independent reviews looking into what we could learn from this.”[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”15″]With any major pipeline project, complex issues arise that often extend beyond the land-based pipeline — especially for projects that would send dilbit directly to port. For example, Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline would run more than 1,100 kilometres from Alberta’s oilsands to the West Coast town of Kitimat, B.C. From here, super tankers would be filled with up to two million barrels of dilbit, before traversing the northern B.C. coastline. Many environment groups, First Nations and other residents are concerned about spills in these coastal waters, and the difficulties involved in any cleanup.[/vc_column_text][mk_custom_box border_width=”1″ bg_color=”#d9d9d9″ bg_position=”left top” bg_repeat=”repeat” bg_stretch=”false” padding_vertical=”5″ padding_horizental=”15″ margin_bottom=”20″ min_height=”100″][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”15″]Pipeline timeline: Major Canadian oil and natural gas pipelines (Click to enlarge)[/vc_column_text][mk_gallery images=”7604,7605″ column=”2″ height=”200″ frame_style=”simple” disable_title=”false” image_quality=”2″ pagination=”false” count=”2″ pagination_style=”1″ order=”ASC” orderby=”date”][/mk_custom_box][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”15″]Much of the debate centres on whether dilbit floats in saltwater. Industry groups contend that dilbit spills would behave much like conventional crude spills, meaning the dilbit would float, resulting in easier cleanup efforts. However, an Environment Canada report in 2013 did not settle the matter. The report concluded dilbit would float if left undisturbed, but also that “high-energy wave action” would mix dilbit with suspended sediment in sea water, causing it to sink or be dispersed as floating “tarballs.”[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”15″]The best way to deal with environmental and safety concerns about spills is to prevent them entirely. For Northern Gateway, Enbridge has developed emergency response plans designed to exceed current regulations. “In the unlikely event of a spill,” says Ivan Giesbrecht, Northern Gateway’s communications manager, “we will have emergency response personnel and equipment located at the Kitimat marine terminal and along the vessel routes to ensure quick response time.” Regarding tanker safety, Giesbrecht says that B.C.’s marine transportation industry is already very safe. “Building on the Canadian system, we are putting in place world class marine safety protocols,” he says. “We believe that these protocols go a long way to minimize risk and protect the marine and coastal environment.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][mk_content_box icon=”moon-reading” heading=”Getting approval”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][mk_image src=”http://energyexchange.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Getting_Approval.jpg” image_width=”1000″ image_height=”720″ crop=”true” lightbox=”true” frame_style=”simple” target=”_self” desc=”PHOTO: ALBERT NORMANDIN/MASTERFILE” caption_location=”outside-image” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]How pipelines get the go-ahead[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”15″]Many factors must be considered before a large-scale pipeline project is approved, which is why the process can often take years to unfold. The issues to consider range from concerns about spills — both in remote and sensitive ecosystems and in heavily populated communities — as well as the many regional interests, such as landowners and First Nations, that may be affected by a pipeline. Given the seemingly large number of proposed pipelines, and the high-profile debates that surround their approval, it’s helpful to have a basic understanding of how these projects are assessed.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/1″][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]Pipelines that cross provincial or international boundaries are regulated and ultimately approved by the federal government, primarily through the National Energy Board, while those strictly within a province or territory are regulated under those jurisdictions. If the pipeline is more than 40 kilometres long, the process includes a public hearing to determine if it’s in the public’s best interest. An environmental assessment is then completed and the NEB often imposes conditions on projects to ensure environmental protection measures are taken. If landowners who are affected by the proposed pipeline have concerns, or other legitimate objections are raised, a detailed route hearing is conducted to determine the best possible route. If there are no further objections afterward, the proposed pipeline can be approved.
In an effort to avoid costly approval delays, the federal government passed a controversial budget bill (C-38) in 2012, which was designed to streamline environmental assessments and allow for faster decision-making on pipelines and other major resource projects. The bill was opposed by many scientists and conservation groups, who are concerned it will not only weaken environmental standards, and put natural areas and species at risk, but that it will lead to greater uncertainty and conflict between interested stakeholders.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/mk_content_box][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]These concerns over local safety and environmental impacts have been the main obstacles in gaining approval for major pipelines. But they’re not the only issues stoking debate.
Some proposed pipelines travel through traditional First Nations land, which has the potential to create thorny issues related to consultation and accommodation — especially given Canada’s checkered past when it comes to engagement with aboriginal communities on major resource projects. For the two pipeline proposals in B.C. — Northern Gateway and the Trans Mountain expansion — there’s the added issue of unresolved First Nations land claims and treaty negotiations that could block approval, or even result in legal challenges if federal approval is given.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”15″]Environmental concerns, both local and global, underscore much of the opposition to new pipelines. “Building a pipeline has a direct impact on local terrain, of course,” says Pollution Probe’s Bob Oliver, “but it’s the indirect impacts that are really activating broad-based opposition. Many environmentalists were already opposed to oilsands development as a growing source of greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, and to tanker traffic on the coasts. New pipelines allow those activities to scale up to the next level, along with the associated impacts.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][mk_content_box icon=”moon-reading” heading=”System setup”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]How pipelines work[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]Ever wonder how the gas in your car got to the gas station? Or how natural gas travelled from its source to your home? Chances are, it went through a pipeline, because nearly all of Canada’s natural gas and onshore crude oil is transported this way.
There are two types of pipelines in Canada: liquid pipelines, which carry liquids such as crude oil or liquefied natural gas, and natural gas pipelines.
To transport crude oil or liquefied natural gas through pipelines, the resource flows through gathering lines that are between 10 and 30 centimetres in diameter to storage tanks and processing plants. Light crude oil flows freely at room temperature, but heavy crude oil doesn’t, so it needs to be blended with a condensate.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][mk_gallery images=”7649″ column=”1″ height=”700″ frame_style=”simple” disable_title=”false” image_quality=”1″ pagination=”false” count=”10″ pagination_style=”1″ order=”ASC” orderby=”date”][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″ el_class=”Photo-Caption”]ILLUSTRATION: ANDY MORA[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]Bitumen, a type of heavy crude oil, is often blended with a diluent, such as natural liquids or ultralight sweet crude oils, to create diluted bitumen or dilbit, which flows through pipelines more easily. From the gathering lines, larger feeder lines move the liquid to transmission lines of up to 121 centimetres in diameter. The liquids then travel long distances through the transmission lines to refineries within and outside Canada, where they’re converted into petroleum products, such as gasoline, aviation fuel and heating oil. Along liquid pipelines, there are pumping stations that house powerful pumps that push or create pressure on liquids to move them through the line at around four to eight kilometres an hour.
Natural gas pipelines work in a similar way to liquid pipelines. From producing wells in natural gas fields, natural gas travels along small gathering lines to a gas processing facility, where items that are in natural gas when it’s extracted from the ground, such as water, impurities and other gases that could corrode a pipeline, are removed. Natural gas is highly pressurized as it moves through pipelines, so it’s compressed from time to time and “pushed” along. When it reaches local distribution companies or gas utilities, the pressure is reduced before the gas continues along smaller distribution pipelines, around 1.5 to 51 centimetres in diameter, to homes and businesses. While crude oil moves along pipelines at a slow, walking pace, natural gas moves like an Olympic sprinter, travelling up to 40 kilometres per hour.[/vc_column_text][/mk_content_box][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][mk_button dimension=”three” size=”large” outline_skin=”dark” outline_active_color=”#fff” outline_hover_color=”#333333″ bg_color=”#13bdd2″ text_color=”dark” icon=”moon-next” url=”http://energyexchange.wpengine.com/the-pipeline-debate/4/” target=”_self” align=”right” fullwidth=”false” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”15″ animation=”scale-up”]Next Page[/mk_button][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]