Risques de danger entourant le Northern Gateway – James Keller, the Canadian Press

  Energy board cites Enbridge in report on safety issues

  James Keller, The Canadian Press Published: Friday, September 07, 2012

Roger McKnight, an energy analyst with Oshawa-based EnPro International Inc., said a critical examination of pipeline safety during the Northern Gateway review will increase scrutiny on Enbridge, though he questioned the wisdom of holding a forum on the topic after the review panel has finished its work.

“I think they got the cart before the horse – maybe they should have had this forum before this whole [Northern Gateway] thing started going,” McKnight said in an interview.

McKnight acknowledged there have been some high-profile incidents within the industry, but he also noted there are thousands of kilometres of pipelines across North America.

The issue of pipeline safety, and specifically Enbridge’s safety record, is central to the debate over the Northern Gateway project.

Environmentalists, First Nations and the political opposition in B.C. have long pointed to potential environmental risks of a spill, either along the pipeline route or from a tanker off the B.C. coast, as a reason to reject the Northern Gateway plan.

B.C.’s Liberal government eventually raised the same concerns, with Premier Christy Clark issuing a list of demands that must be met before she would be prepared to offer her support.

Clark’s demands include assurances that Enbridge has sufficient plans to prevent and respond to a spill and that First Nations are properly involved.

Her most controversial demand is that B.C. receive a “fair share” of the economic benefits from the pipeline – a request that Alberta’s premier, Alison Redford, has steadfastly rejected.

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2012