Richard Adams
On July 15, Richard Adams made a statement on Capitol Hill. He is an Enbridge VP. He was speaking to the Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee of the Transportation and Infrastructure Commitee of the US House of Representatives.
The context is that a few years ago, the inspection and reporting requirements placed on pipeline operators were upgraded in what are deemed "High Consequence Areas" or HCAs. 44% of US liquid pipelines are in HCAs - a designation which applies to densely populated areas, navigable waterways, and environmentally sensitive sites. The subcommittee is reviewing the requirements.
Adams main concern, although he doesn't say it directly, is that the more rigorous Integrity Management regime should not be expanded beyond the HCAs to a larger portion of the pipeline systems. To the subcommittee he said:
"The natural question is why wouldn’t the industry just support an expansion of the Integrity Management Rules beyond HCA’s? ... Going back to a prescriptive "one-size-fits-all" mandate treating all areas along the pipeline and all hazards as equal, misses the premise of risk-management that considers both the likelihood and consequences of an incident."
http://transportation.house.gov/Media/file/Rail/20100715/R%20Adams.pdf
He uses concepts we have been hearing from Enbridge with respect to the Northern Gateway project about risk management.
Adams made this statement ten days before a pipeline ruptured near Battle Creek, Michigan. First reported by local residents on Sunday evening, officially reported Monday by Enbridge, the cause of the rupture is still not known. Meanwhile, 819,000 gallons (19,500 barrels) of crude oil has spilled into nearby Talmadge Creek, into the Kalamazoo River, and spread 16 miles. It may be the largest terrestrial spill ever in North America. [Compare with BP's Prudhoe Bay pipeline disaster in 2006 at 212,000 gallons (5,000 bbl); the Exxon Valdes: 10,800,000 gallons (260,000 bbl); Deepwater Horizon/Macondo Well: 30,000 - 80,000 - 120,000 barrels PER DAY since April 20]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_spills
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_spills
Adams went on to reassure the subcommittee:
"Safety and protection of the public and environment are our highest priorities, indeed I think it is a fair reading of our publications and actions that we hold this as a core value – not just a priority."
Spill in Cohasset, Minnesota
Here's a National Transportation and Safety Board analysis of an Enbridge pipeline spill in Minnesota in 2002. Among its findings are that pipe used in Enbridge's systems was identified as having stress fractures in 1974, 1979, 1982, 1986,1989, 1991 and 2002, and that the "Elastic Wave" inspection device recorded anomalies which could have led to identification of stress fracturing had they been followed up.
The primary conclusion was that the method of transporting the pipe to the construction site was the source of the fracture that led ultimately to the spill. This conclusion means that the report wasn't damaging to anyone in particular - nobody can really be held to account, and Enbridge escapes any culpability.
Wikipedia's Magnficent List
There's a list of Enbridge's spills and violation on its Wikipedia listing. I have extracted from it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enbridge#Spills_and_violations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enbridge#Spills_and_violations
- Between 1999 and 2008, across all of Enbridge’s operations there were 610 spills
- July 4, 2002, Cohasset, Minnesota
- 2006, 67 reportable spills
- 2007, 65 reportable spills
- March 18, 2006, Willmar terminal in Saskatchewan.
- January 1, 2007, pipeline that runs from Superior, Wisconsin to near Whitewater, Wisconsin cracked open and spilled
- February 2, 2007, same pipeline was struck by construction crews in Rusk County, Wisconsin
- April 2007, Glenavon, Saskatchewan
- MOST NOTABLE AND QUOTABLE: 2009, Enbridge Energy Partners "agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle a lawsuit brought against the company by the state of Wisconsin for 545 environmental violations. In a news release from Wisconsin's Department of Justice, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said "...the incidents of violation were numerous and widespread, and resulted in impacts to the streams and wetlands throughout the various watersheds." The violations were incurred while building portions of the company's Southern Access pipeline, a ~$2.1 billion project to transport crude from the oil sands region in Alberta to Chicago.
- January 2009, southeast of Fort McMurray
- April 2010, Virden, Manitoba
- July 2010, Talmadge Creek leading to the Kalamazoo River in southwest Michigan on Monday, July 26.
Fatalities near Clearbrook, Minnesota
In November 2007, 2 workers in Minnesota were killed while repairing an Enbridge pipeline. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) sent the company a letter which includes the text, "The accident involved two fatalities and over $2 million in property damage. As a result of the investigation, it appears that you have committed probably violations of the Pipeline Safety Regulations ..."
Thanks to Mike Holmstrom
