Friends of Wild Salmon Pipeline and Tanker Blog

JRP Final Technical Hearing Summary: Edmonton, Day 6

Four intervenors questioned Northern Gateway Pipeline’s (NGP) witness panel on Monday. The day opened with Tim Leadem, co-counsel for the Coalition finishing his examination from the previous day.

His questions elicited the information that the capacity of the oil pipeline of 525,000 barrels per day, is actually the average capacity, the design capacity is 583,000 bpd, and the potential capacity of the pipeline is 850,000 bpd - with the addition of sufficient pumping capacity.

Chris Peter of CJ Peter Engineering in Prince George calculated that the total “well-to-wheels” greenhouse gas impact of the oil transported in NGP would be 37 million tonnes (about two-thirds of BC’s total emissions in 2010).

Mr. Peter asked, “Is it not appropriate, especially in view of Canada's stated target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 17 percent below 2005 levels or 607 megatons by 2020 for these emissions to be entered into some economic ledger somewhere as … a social cost to the planet?”

Jack Ruitenbeek, a member of NGP’s panel, replied to Mr. Peter. He said, “Canada is responsible for its emissions within its own country, not for emissions in countries to which it may be exporting its products.”

Hana Boye represents the Haisla First Nation. She displayed an image of Douglas Channel, used in an Enbridge video. It shows the channel as a wide-open waterway, not filled with rocky islands and treacherous turns.

Asked about the missing detail, Enbridge’s project manager, John Carruthers, replied that it wasn’t intended to be that specific. Ms. Boye then asks if it was “intended to present the Douglas Channel as a route that could be perceived as safer than it actually is?” Mr. Carruthers denies that was the intention.

Ms. Boye asked Mr. Carruthers if he agrees that detail is important “when you're proposing to pipe a highly toxic substance through a pristine ecosystem?” He responded that “in terms of actually designing and building and operating the pipeline, there would need to be attention to detail.”

Ms. Boye: “And it's that type of inattention to detail that brings about oil spills like Kalamazoo; is that correct?” Mr. Carruthers replied, “No, I'm not -- I'm saying that in terms of building and constructing a pipeline, you need to look at detail.”

For a more detailed summary, please see the following document: