An open letter to Terry Beech, Burnaby North-Seymour MP:
I write to express my deepest thanks to you for representing my views and those of so many other Burnaby residents when you recently voted “nay” to the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion. I do not understand how
MP Mark Strahl can assert there is social licence for the Kinder Morgan expansion. Most of the people I know are opposed to expanding oil transportation through an urban area such as Burnaby.
Former premier Christy Clark outlined five conditions that she wanted oil transportation companies to meet before her government would agree to additional pipelines and pipeline rights of way being allowed to cross our province and additional quantities of oil to leave our ports. None of the conditions mentioned safety concerns for the residents of Burnaby (or other regions).
Furthermore, the five conditions referred to “oil-spill” prevention and/or response. The words“oil spill” do not, at face value, capture the urgent scenarios of a pipeline explosion or a tank farm fire. Like oil spills, these more urgent events have occurred infrequently in the past (not all of which have been publicly reported), however, they have, at times, resulted in injuries and loss of human life. See for example, the 1999 Olympic pipeline explosion in a rural area of Bellingham that killed three people and the 1984 PEMEX San Juanico tank fire in an urban area that killed 500 to 600 people and left thousands injured.
I feel that our federal and former provincial governments, in supporting the pipeline expansion, have entirely disregarded the health and safety of the citizens of Burnaby. As a citizen, I have heard nothing about their assessments of the risks to human health and safety if the pipeline/tank farm expansion proceeds and nothing about how the government plans to protect me and my fellow Burnaby residents in the event of a pipeline explosion or tank farm fire.
I have heard that if the product to be stored at the tank farm were to catch fire, the fumes would be deadly to all life in the area for approximately four days and after that, the fumes would remain extremely toxic for at least several days. I have heard it would not be possible to extinguish a fire and that the tanks would be left to burn. As you know, there is an elementary school and a daycare, as well as many townhomes, cooperatives and single-family homes in the immediate vicinity of the tank farm.
Above the tank farm, a forested conservation belt wraps around Burnaby Mountain, and above that is Simon Fraser University and UniverCity.
At a minimum, my fellow Burnaby residents and I would like to know the risks we are facing and what advice and assistance the federal and provincial governments are willing to give the City of Burnaby and its residents should there be a need to evacuate people from the area around the tank farm and/or the pipeline.
I live approximately 30 metres from the existing Trans Mountain/Kinder Morgan pipeline and not far from the jet fuel pipeline. There is also an Imperial Oil pipeline running through my neighbourhood and possibly others. I have been told the existing pipelines were installed in the 1950s at a time when our community was relatively unpopulated. Our community is now urbanized, and I understand the existing pipelines are now over 70 years old.
What can the federal and provincial governments tell us about the viability of the existing pipelines?
Shortly before the Inlet Drive oil spill in Burnaby in 2007 (which luckily caused no loss of life), Kinder Morgan undertook land clearance of the right of way that crosses my townhouse complex’s common property.
At the time, the company advised us that they needed greater clearance for overhead helicopter monitoring of the pipeline. They advised that the purpose of helicopter monitoring was to look for unauthorized third-party digs, evidence of oil leaks on the ground and substantial shifts in terrain.
At the time, the company advised us that they, not the National Energy Board, called the shots when it came to pipeline safety because they were the ones who paid for monitoring and emergency response. We were dismayed at the prospect of the oil company protecting our health and welfare.
Recently, we have learned that Kinder Morgan’s emergency fire response plans since they took over Trans Mountain have been lacking, and I therefore consider the company has put the residents at risk.
My neighbours and I have had concerns that helicopter monitoring twice a week may not alert the company to events occurring between the helicopter flyovers. My neighbours and I are now vigilant and prepared to report anything concerning we see to the company, however, there are numerous risks we cannot see. What is the plan if there is an event? Is there a plan?
In conclusion, I am hoping you will be able to advise me of the risks my neighbours and I are facing in relation to both the existing and future pipelines and what plans are in place, or will be in place, to contain a pipeline event and evacuate and protect us should a dangerous pipeline or tank farm event occur. And will the federal government really monitor Kinder Morgan?
Christine Cunningham is a Burnaby resident.
