Northern Gateway opponents target CN Rail
Opponents of the Northern Gateway pipeline are threatening to turn their sights on CN Rail, as at least one Alberta oil company explores the possibility of transporting oil sands crude to the B.C. coast by rail car.
Sixteen environmental groups signed a letter sent to Canadian National CEO Claude Mongeau this week to express opposition to any plans to ship product from the Alberta oil sands west by rail.
“Unfortunately, … there are far greater fatality, injury and environmental risks when transporting crude oil by rail than by pipeline,” the letter said.
It cites a study last year by the Manhattan Institute, a right-leaning American think tank that has endorsed construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast after comparing the safety and accident statistics of rail, road and pipelines.
“The industry itself acknowledges that trains have nearly three times the number of spills as pipelines (which provides little comfort given Enbridge’s oil spill record),” the letter said.
The groups, including Greenpeace Canada, West Coast Environmental Law and Sierra Club of B.C., cite two 2005 train derailments.
On Aug. 3, 2005, a train derailed west of Edmonton and spilled 800,000 litres of bunker oil and wood preservative into Wabamun Lake. The spill killed birds and fish, polluted the shoreline and forced authorities to truck drinking water into the area for 18 months.
Two days later, on Aug. 5, 2005, a derailment near Squamish spilled 40,000 litres of caustic soda into the Cheakamus River. More than half a million fish were killed and reports suggested it could take decades for salmon stocks to recover.
CN pleaded guilty in 2009 to violating federal laws protecting fish and migratory birds and failing to properly remediate a spill, and agreed to pay $1.8 million for both incidents.
“Should CN decide to try to move forward with its proposal, it would face major opposition and risks to the company,” the letter said. “We urge you to stop any forward movement with shipping tar sands oil by rail through British Columbia.”
An official with the Port of Prince Rupert confirmed that it has had “very preliminary” talks with Nexen Inc., about using trains to bring oil from Alberta to the north coast port city.
“Yes, we’ve had engagement and dialogue with Nexen on the concept of a terminal,” Michael Gurney, manager of corporate communications for the Prince Rupert Port Authority, said Thursday.
Discussions began over a year ago, he said.
“We really want to emphasize that this has not yet even evolved into a project. This is a concept that they are exploring at the port authority,” Gurney said.
Asked if other companies have also approached the port about the possibility, Gurney said he could not disclose that information at this time.
Production in the Alberta oil sands has outstripped pipeline capacity, and several projects have been proposed to expand Pacific exports — including Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline into Kitimat and an expansion of Kinder Morgan’s existing pipeline into Metro Vancouver.
The vocal opposition to both projects, along with the precarious future of the Keystone XL pipeline, has renewed interest in shipping oil by rail.
Mark Hallman, director of communications for CN Rail, said the company is already moving heavy crude, light crude and pure bitumen from western Canada to markets in Canada and the U.S.
“While CN is not moving crude oil to Canada’s west coast ports for export purposes today — there is no infrastructure in place at those ports to unload crude oil from rail cars to vessels — the Company cannot preclude the possibility of such traffic in future if the infrastructure is built,” Hallman said in an email.
Rail is a complement to pipelines in the movement of oil, he said, and there is no appreciable difference in the spill frequency or size — at 99.9% it’s “extremely low for both.”
“CN has improved its safety record,” Hallman said, adding that last year the railway invested more than US$1-billion on track infrastructure and has industry leading inspection practices.
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