Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline System

The Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline System, or simply the Trans Mountain Pipeline, is a controversial oil pipeline that carries crude and refined oil from Alberta to the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is wholly owned by the Canadian division of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (Kinder Morgan) and has been in use since 1953. It is the only pipeline to run between these two areas.^[1]

History

On February 13, 1947, large oil deposits around Leduc, Alberta were discovered. The idea for a pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia, (BC), quickly emerged, driven by the growing demand for oil both in Asia and on the west coast of Canada and the United States. The US military was also interested in developing this infrastructure so that oil could be accessed more easily for military use, specifically because of the ongoing Korean War.

On March 21, 1951, the Trans Mountain Pipeline Company was created by a special Act of Parliament. On the same day, the company made a pipeline proposal to the Board of Transport Commissioners. Ownership of the company was split between Canadian Bechtel Ltd. and Standard Oil.

In February 1952 after the Board´s approval, construction began. Canadian Bechtel Ltd. was responsible for engineering, design, and construction of the project. On October 17, 1953, oil began to be pumped through the pipeline, which had cost a total of $93 million.^[2][3]

In 2004, Kinder Morgan began the process to add a second pipeline, running parallel to the first, for the portion running between Hinton, Alberta, and Hargreaves, British Columbia. This required two more pumping stations - the Wolf Pump Station, near Niton Junction, Alberta, and the Chappel Pump Station, near Pyramid, British Columbia.

In 2008, the project was completed, increasing capacity by 40,000 barrels per day (6,400 m³/d), (from 260,000 to 300,000 barrels per day (41,000 to 48,000 m³/d)).^[4]

Expansion project

In 2013, Kinder Morgan filed an application with the Canadian National Energy Board to build a second pipeline under the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project.^[5] The second pipeline was to run roughly parallel to the existing pipeline, between Edmonton and Burnaby, (east of Vancouver), and to be used to transport diluted bitumen. The additional pipeline requires 12 new pumping stations. The proposed expansion, with 980 kilometres (610 mi) of pipe, would increase the system's capacity from 300,000 barrels a day to 890,000. This increase would help supply growing demand in the United States, and specifically in Asia. An investment of $6.8 billion would complete the connection between Strathcona County, Alberta, and Burnaby, British Columbia.^[6]

Kinder Morgan had the support of several large petroleum industry customers for this expansion, (BP Canada Energy Trading Co., Canadian Natural Resources, Canadian Oil Sands Ltd., Cenovus Energy Inc., Devon Canada Corp., Husky Energy Marketing Inc., Imperial Oil Ltd., Nexen Marketing Inc., Statoil Canada Ltd., Suncor Energy Marketing Inc., Suncor Energy Products Partnership, Tesoro Refining & Marketing Co, and Total E&P Canada Ltd).

In 2016, BC said that it did not support Trans Mountain, partly because Kinder Morgan has not provided enough information about its proposed spill prevention program.^[7] On November 29, 2016, Canada's federal cabinet approved the expansion project, announcing that the approval was "subject to 157 binding conditions that will address potential Indigenous, socio-economic and environmental impacts, including project engineering, safety and emergency preparedness. This $6.8-billion project will create 15,000 new jobs during construction."^[8]

Despite federal government approval, seven Federal Court challenges have been filed by the municipalities of Vancouver and Burnaby, and the Tsleil-Waututh, Suquamish, Kwantlen, and Coldwater First Nations.^[9]

Debate

Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan addresses the crowd, at the STOP KINDER MORGAN protest rally, on Burnaby Mountain Park.

Controversy surrounding the Trans Mountain Pipeline exists. In the period 1961-2016 there were 82 reported spills^[10] and other environmental accidents in the area of the already-existing pipeline, including:

• Abbotsford 2005: A ruptured pipeline dumped 210 cubic metres of crude oil. The company attributed the accident to activity on a neighbouring property.^[11]
• Burnaby 2007: A contractor working on a sewage project for the City of Burnaby ruptured a pipeline, causing spillage of 224-234 cubic metres of crude oil, some of it flowed into Burrard Inlet via the Burnaby storm sewer system, most of it was recovered. Eleven houses were sprayed with oil, and about 225-250 residents were evacuated or left voluntarily. Cleanup took more than a year.^[12][13]
• Burnaby 2009: 305 cubic metres of crude oil were released from a tank at the Trans Mountain Burnaby Terminal, most of it flowed into a containment area.^[14]
• Sumas 2012: 90 cubic metres of light crude oil leaked from a Sumas Mountain holding tank, all of it flowed into a containment area.^[15]

A study by Simon Fraser University claims that Kinder Morgan has overestimated the economic benefits of the pipeline expansion.^[16] This report directly contradicts the narrowing of the WTI and Brent futures index after Obama similarly opened the US domestic market to foreign exports.^[17]

The existing and proposed pipelines ship diluted bitumen through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, an extremely sensitive environmental region. The tankers have to pass through a very narrow channel of shallow water to reach the open sea, making the project controversial and strongly opposed by the Council of Canadians^[18] and by Americans, for reasons similar to the opposition to Keystone XL, Line 9, and Northern Gateway and offshore deep ocean oil drilling.

Protests

RCMP policemen contain Burnaby citizens protest against oil giant Kinder Morgan on Burnaby Mountain.

The expansion project faced strong opposition from civic governments, First Nations, environmentally concerned citizens, and others. Protests in November 2014 focused on Kinder Morgan's surveying work.

Members of the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations of British Columbia paddled canoes on the waters of Burrard Inlet to the Kinder Morgan Burnaby Terminal for a ceremony to protest the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, in North Vancouver, B.C., on September 1, 2012. Tsleil-Waututh leaders hoped to shut down the project altogether.^[19]

Those who support the pipeline say that it will create jobs and that it has a lower risk of spilling oil then transporting oil by rail, which pipeline proponents say would otherwise have to be used.^[20]

Other projects

The pipeline is part of multiple projects to increase the export of Canadian oil to international markets, as well as to Eastern Canada and to refineries around North America. Other projects include the Northern Gateway Pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat, the Keystone XL Pipeline to the Southern US, and Line 9 and Energy East to eastern provinces.

References

External links

• Oil Across the Rockies - Documentary of the building of the pipeline.
• The Building of Trans Mountain: Canada's First Oil Pipeline Across the Rockies - Book about the building of the pipeline.