Enbridge Opens Northern Gateway Office in P.G.
Friday, November 16, 2012 @ 3:09 PM
Prince George, B.C.- Enbridge has officially opened its Northern Gateway Pipeline office in Prince George.The office, located in the building which was initially the home of Integris Union at the Parkwood mall, has been totally renovated to accommodate public relations and executive staff for the yet to be approved project.
Still in the final hearing stage of the environmental assessment process, the final word on the proposed twin pipeline is not expected to be delivered until the end of 2013. But Janet Holder, Executive Vice President of Western Access for Enbridge, ( in photo at right, ) is optimistic, saying the offices will become the corporate office once the project is approved. “We want to be part of the community, it is basically who we are as a company. We really do believe we need to give back to the communities, to be part of the communities, so it is important for us to be here and it’s not just about Prince George, its for people on the right of way. So people in Fort St. James for example, they’re in town, this is often a place where they will be, so it’s easy for them to find us as well. We want to welcome the community in.”
(Click on photo for brief video)
The new office is ground level, with easy public access, the project has supporters and detractors who are equal in their level of passion either for or against the twin pipeline. Holder says security at this office is no more a concern than any other company would have “When we decided to locate here, we did discuss it with the owners of the bu8ilding, there is security around us. Frankly I don’t think we would have felt comfortable in a secure office tower, that would not be us, that’s not what we’re about , we’re always aware of our surroundings, but we’re not concerned about our surroundings.”
The pipeline hearings resume in Prince George on November 22nd.
Comments
I’m sure you will get lots of visitors.. inside and out… with placards…. protesting…..
The NEB says to expect to pay more for heating your home and filling up at the pumps this winter. I have a good idea. Lets just give away our energy for next to nothing to the Chinese & the Yankees.
“not concerned about our surroundings”
Sums it up nicely.
It’ll be like home.
Enbridge staff visiting town no longer have to stay at hotels.
They’ll able to “crash out” on the pull out couches and Murphy beds …. ;-)
Enbridge plays the Fake animal study card.
These “Keystone cops” are cooked, truth telling by Enbridge does indeed seem to be a “chronic” problem.
http://thecanadian.org/item/1809-mark-hume-nails-enbridge-on-caribou-paper-cheat
Keystone cops.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/safety-board-slams-enbridge-over-michigan-spill-1.872537
Enbridge spills 3000 barrels of Alberta sludge oil into the Red Deer river.
http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1-/11823-red-deer-river-oil-pipeline-spill-prelude-to-enbridge-in-bc-.html
“Spills and violations
Using data from Enbridge’s own reports, the Polaris Institute calculated that 804 spills occurred on Enbridge pipelines between 1999 and 2010. These spills released approximately 168,645 barrels (26,812.4 m3) of crude oil into the environment.[12]
On July 4, 2002 an Enbridge pipeline ruptured in a marsh near the town of Cohasset, Minnesota in Itasca County, spilling 6,000 barrels (950 m3) of crude oil. In an attempt to keep the oil from contaminating the Mississippi River, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources set a controlled burn that lasted for 1 day and created a smoke plume about 1-mile (1.6 km) high and 5 miles (8.0 km) long.[13]
In 2006, there were 67 reportable spills totaling 5,663 barrels (900.3 m3) on Enbridge’s energy and transportation and distribution system; in 2007, there were 65 reportable spills totaling 13,777 barrels (2,190.4 m3) [14]
On March 18, 2006, approximately 613 barrels (97.5 m3) of crude oil were released when a pump failed at Enbridge’s Willmar terminal in Saskatchewan.[15] According to Enbridge, roughly half the oil was recovered.
On January 1, 2007 an Enbridge pipeline that runs from Superior, Wisconsin to near Whitewater, Wisconsin cracked open and spilled ~50,000 US gallons (190 m3) of crude oil onto farmland and into a drainage ditch.[16] The same pipeline was struck by construction crews on February 2, 2007, in Rusk County, Wisconsin, spilling ~201,000 US gallons (760 m3) of crude, of which only about 87,000 gallons were recovered. Some of the oil filled a hole more than 20 feet (6.1 m) deep and contaminated the local water table.[17][18]
In April 2007, roughly 6,227 barrels (990.0 m3) of crude oil spilled into a field downstream of an Enbridge pumping station near Glenavon, Saskatchewan.[15]
In 2009, Enbridge Energy Partners, a US affiliate of Enbridge Inc., agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle a lawsuit brought against the company by the state of Wisconsin for 545 environmental violations.[19] In a news release from Wisconsin’s Department of Justice, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said “…the incidents of violation were numerous and widespread, and resulted in impacts to the streams and wetlands throughout the various watersheds.”[20] The violations were incurred while building portions of the company’s Southern Access pipeline, a project to transport crude from the oil sands region in Alberta to Chicago.
In January 2009 an Enbridge pipeline leaked about 4,000 barrels (640 m3) of oil southeast of Fort McMurray at the company’s Cheecham Terminal tank farm. Most of the spilled oil was contained within berms but about 1% of the oil, about 40 barrels (6.4 m3), sprayed into the air and coated nearby snow and trees.[21]
On January 2, 2010, Enbridge’s Line 2 ruptured near Neche, North Dakota, releasing about 3,784 barrels of crude oil, of which only 2,237 barrels of were recovered.[22][18]
April 2010 an Enbridge pipeline ruptured spilling more than 9.5 barrels (1.51 m3) of oil in Virden, Manitoba, which leaked into the Boghill Creek which eventually connects to the Assiniboine River.[23]
July 2010, a leaking pipeline spilled an estimated 843,444 US gallons (3,192.78 m3) of crude oil into Talmadge Creek leading to the Kalamazoo River in southwest Michigan on Monday, July 26 near Marshall, Michigan.[24][25] A United States Environmental Protection Agency update of the Kalamazoo River spill concluded the pipeline rupture “caused the largest inland oil spill in Midwest history” and reported the cost of the cleanup at $36.7 million (US) as of November 14, 2011.[24] The cleanup is unfinished as of July 2012.[26] PHMSA raised concerns in a Corrective Action Order (CAO) about numerous anomalies that had been detected on this pipeline by internal line inspection tools, yet Enbridge had failed to check a number of those anomalies in the field.[27] The Michigan spill affected more than 50 kilometres of waterways and wetlands and about 320 people reported symptoms from crude oil exposure.[28] The NTSB said at US$800 million it was the costliest onshore spill cleanup in U.S. history.[29] The NTSB found Enbridge knew of a defect in the pipeline five years before it burst.[30]
On September 9, 2010, a rupture on Enbridge’s Line 6A pipeline near Romeoville, Illinois released an estimate 7,500 barrels (1,190 m3) of oil into the surrounding area.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enbridge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=fvwp&v=dOKmeV-sBEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxrC7akwGsI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gXaYZVGw44&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlnri_scklA&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKVRuelvJ-s&feature=player_embedded#!
BP fined $4.5 billion on $50 billion dollar environmental disaster in Gulf of Mexico.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world_business/view/1237546/1/.html
On another note, Enbridge makes Gateway limited partnership, the reason, it limits their liability to next to NOTHING!!!
“The three-member panel is to make a recommendation to the federal government by the end of next year on whether the pipeline is needed given oil supply and demand, and whether the line can be built and sustained safely.
Carruthers said the decision by Enbridge to hive off Northern Gateway and take on investors is simply sound and commonly accepted business practice.
Graf and Carruthers fenced for half an hour, and Graf pushed her point hard.
“Would Enbridge consider changing this ownership structure?” she asked.
No, replied Carruthers, adding there is already high interest among investors to take an ownership position.
“Would Enbridge consider backstopping Northern Gateway ⦠serving as guarantor for instance in the event of a large spill?” asked Graf.
Isn’t that the same question? Carruthers replied.
How about Enbridge guaranteeing a loan for Northern Gateway to clean up a spill? she asked.
Not realistic, Carruthers said.
“The structure is set to properly allocate the risk among the owners, including aboriginal,” he said.
“If it was 100 per cent owned (by Enbridge), I concede we could structure it differently, but that wasn’t the intent or expectation from Day One.”
Your argument doesn’t add up, Graff told him.
“If you’re that confident that Enbridge would not have to backstop Northern Gateway in the event of a large spill, then why does Enbridge feel the need to limit its liability?” she asked.
At that point, an Enbridge lawyer stepped in and asked panel chair Sheila Leggett to intervene.
“I think it’s been asked and answered,” he said.
Leggett agreed. “The panel would ask you to move on,” she told Graff.
Earlier Friday, Graff suggested to Enbridge economist Jack Ruitenbeek that the numbers the company is using to estimate the cost to clean up a Gateway spill is a small fraction of what it really cost Enbridge to clean up a massive oil spill in southern Michigan in 2010.
Enbridge estimates cleaning up a spill and repairing the environment costs up to $14,000 a barrel, noted Graff.
But she said the Enbridge spill that fouled the Kalamazoo River in 2010 released more than 20,000 barrels.
By Enbridge estimates of $14,000 a barrel, said Graf, the Michigan clean up should have cost $281 million. But the actual cost was almost three times that figure, at $767 million, and covered only the clean up and not the environmental rehabilitation.
“How do you account for this discrepancy?” she asked Ruitenbeek.
Ruitenbeek said the Michigan spill was a statistical “outlier” given it happened in the United States, where clean up costs are higher, along with a large population around the spill site to consider.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/09/07/enbridge-northern-gateway-pipeline-safest_n_1865404.html
On the upside, at least there is a bus stop just outside the door of the office for those who “talk the talk and walk the walk”. Emphasize on “walk” in this case. (Never mind the fact that the buses run on diesel). That’s different.
Boo hiss!
The old “Integris Union” building?
I think Integris CREDIT Union might want to suggest there is a small difference.
Where are the proof-readers when you need ’em?
Cool story bro.
Let’s get this pipeline gong already.
Funny, I don’t remember the City amending the zoning bylaw to allow them to go there.
If a protester really wanted to mess with them, they could point this out and shut them down…
Braisen and pushy buggers aren’t they..;]
Obama will approve Keystone then Enbridge will go away.
Let’s get it built.
Boys and Girls the Pipeline will go through Harper already aproved, called in the best interest of Canada. With the new agreement in place with China no Provice could afford the cost to just say NO. he has already put in the fix company and feds will offer big dollers to First Nations bands with jobs jobs and other moneys and off we go.Protest all you want he was the power, time for protest was on election day thats long passed.
Boys and Girls, the Enbridge pipeline is dead, it never was going to happen, it was all about putting pressure on XL keystone pipeline.
Move along Steph99, you are confused.
Harper knows he is toast in 2015, Enbridge toast, those pesky First nation unresolved land claims and supreme courts, I figure the first court date to take place about..
2017..
Ha Ha..Enbridge got rooked, and now Transcanada company is running/reversing flow on nuimber 9 and sending 1 million barrels a day east.
Enbridge loses, loses and loses again.
Now that`s funny
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