Merritt Herald
Kinder Morgan's TransMountain pipeline has sprung a leak in the area southwest of Merritt, B.C., and the company says the spill has been contained with less than 12 barrels being spilled.
On Thursday morning, the National Energy Board said it was responding to a "crude oil release" on the pipeline, and that it had yet to determine the size of the spill.
The National Energy Board said in a press release that it received an incident report late Wednesday afternoon, and the pipeline has been shut down to prevent more oil from being released into the environment.
The Vancouver Sun quoted Kinder Morgan spokesperson Any Galarnyk as saying the spill is about 2,000 litres of crude oil and was discovered during regular maintenance on Wednesday afternoon (June 12) along Highway 3 near Kingsvale.
"There is no immediate safety concern for local residents and precautions are being taken to ensure continued public safety," the NEB said in a press release.
"The NEB's Emergency Response Team has been deployed and will be onsite to monitor and assess the companies' immediate response, investigation and clean up. Representatives from the affected company are also onsite along with local first responders."
The Vancouver Sun reported Garanyk confirmed Kinder Morgan staff were on the scene overnight and are working to repair the line.
Kinder Morgan has been pushing for expansion and twinning of the pipeline, which carries crude oil from Alberta through British Columbia. The twinning would occur from Edmonton to the pipeline's end point, a dock in Burnaby.
"Kinder Morgan (has announced) that due to new long-term contracts being signed it will increase the capacity of its proposed expansion from 750,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 890,000 bpd," reported the Burnaby NewsLeader's Wanda Chow in January. "The 60-year-old pipeline, which runs from Edmonton to Burnaby, is currently carrying 300,000 bpd."