The pipeline debate

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”15″][mk_dropcaps style=”simple-style”]P[/mk_dropcaps]ipelines have come a long way since they were first used in China over 2,500 years ago — made from bamboo and used to carry brine and gas from salt beds underlying the Sichuan Basin. In Canada, they date back to 1853, when cast-iron piping was used to move natural gas to Trois Rivières, Que. In 1862, one of the first oil pipelines in the world was built to carry crude in southern Ontario, from Petrolia to Sarnia.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”15″]After Alberta struck “black gold” near Leduc in 1947, the oil and gas industry began to build a vast pipeline network starting in the 1950s. In addition to the roughly 450,000 kilometres of distribution pipelines, which carry natural gas to homes, businesses and some industries across the country, a series of shorter connecting pipelines — “gathering” and “feeder” lines — move oil and gas products between wells, processing facilities and storage tanks in the field.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][mk_image src=”http://energyexchange.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Canada_Pipelines.gif” image_width=”700″ image_height=”350″ crop=”false” lightbox=”true” frame_style=”simple” target=”_self” desc=”COURTESY THE CANADIAN ENERGY PIPELINE ASSOCIATION” caption_location=”outside-image” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”15″]The Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA), which represents pipeline companies in Canada, pegs the value of annual Canadian oil and natural gas exports at more than $80 billion. Most of that value is moved via pipeline, which transports about three million barrels every day. CEPA estimates the daily amount carried in these pipelines would fill 15,000 truckloads and 4,200 rail cars — or one massive train that would have to be 75 kilometres long.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”15″]Trucks and rail are still important in helping to get oilsands crude to market, but the numbers above give an indication of why pipelines are the preferred transportation option for the oil and gas industry. Pipelines are more cost-effective, require less energy to operate and have a much lower carbon footprint — plus, safety concerns related to oil-by-rail transport became tragically apparent by the devastating rail tragedy last year in Lac Mégantic, Quebec.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][mk_content_box icon=”moon-reading” heading=”Standard procedures”][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]Regulating and maintaining pipelines[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]Every aspect of a pipeline’s life cycle is heavily regulated — from its design and construction to the procedure for site cleanup once a pipeline is abandoned and no longer used.

The Canadian Standards Association (CSA), an independent non-profit, has developed specific guidelines for oil and gas pipelines — based on criteria related to quality, safety and performance — which pipeline builders and operators follow. The CSA has also developed guidelines related to land use planning for pipelines, which can help local authorities and developers manage the many considerations and complex issues that often
arise for any project.

To ensure the ongoing integrity of pipelines, and to prevent ruptures and potential spills, companies must continuously monitor them from remote control centres using computerized sensing systems. They also use a host of maintenance technologies and techniques — including special sensors that can detect cracks, as well as “in-line” inspection tools, called “pipeline pigs,” that move along the inside of pipelines to identify dents, thinning or other forms of structural damage.[/vc_column_text][/mk_content_box][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”15″]CEPA and energy companies insist pipelines are safe, and that they pose minimal threat to communities and ecosystems. Indeed, CEPA says its most recent statistics show that less than one per cent of liquid products transported between 2002 and 2011 were spilled. New pipelines designed to service the oilsands, however, will carry diluted bitumen — also known as “dilbit,” a mixture of bitumen and natural gas condensate that allows the bitumen to flow freely — which complicates the issue somewhat. Conservation groups are worried about dilbit spills in bodies of water — especially deep water where the heavier oil could sink to the bottom and contaminate sediments. Industry groups insist the mixture will float, but independent studies and actual spills have shown that when the lighter elements in the mixture evaporate, the heavier elements will either sink or mix with water-borne sediments.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”15″]In the Kalamazoo oil spill, near Marshall, Michigan, area residents dealt with a dilbit spill first-hand. On July 25, 2010, Enbridge’s Line 6B pipeline ruptured, sending roughly three million litres of dilbit from Alberta’s oilsands into Talmadge Creek, a tributary of the Kalamazoo. Heavy rains and increased flow carried the spill over 56 kilometres before it was finally contained about 130 river kilometres from Lake Michigan.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][mk_button dimension=”three” size=”large” outline_skin=”dark” outline_active_color=”#fff” outline_hover_color=”#333333″ bg_color=”#13bdd2″ text_color=”dark” icon=”moon-next” url=”http://energyexchange.wpengine.com/the-pipeline-debate/3/” target=”_self” align=”right” fullwidth=”false” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”15″ animation=”scale-up”]Next Page[/mk_button][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]

5 thoughts on “The pipeline debate”

  1. Berton W. Cosman

    What Product is Energy East intended to carry ?
    I thought is was crude oil- either light or heavy.
    However George Watson Chairman of CRITICAL CONTROL was a guest on CBC BNN channel
    this afternoon around 4:25 PM Atlantic Time and he stated that” Energy East is a gas pipeline” .
    Can and will you clarify this for me?
    Thanks

    B.W. Cosman P.Eng

  2. OK . If the pipe lines start outside of the United States of America. (Canada) Mr. President what is the tax going to be on these companies bringing the product into the USA from the pipe line? Help me out . Any thoughts. Am I fishing?

  3. Sorry I made a mistake what I meant to say if oil spills in the lakes and streams where a native reserve lives and once there is an oil spill and the fish are polluted with oil from an oil spill the fish are poisoned and once a native person eats the fish with the oil poison they get sick with cancer and then they die.

  4. I do believe the pipeline will create jobs and boost our economy but the problem I have about the pipelines is oil spills for our native friends of Canada say oil spills in their lakes and streams, poisons their fist and once the native people eat the fish with oil poison in it and they start to develop cancer in their bodies and then they die. Also what about the endangered sea creatures in our ocean, if there is another oil spill we can damage the life of a whale and endanger the rest of the wild life already black bears are having problems finding fish to eat and berries to eat and they go where people have their summer cabins and the bears go through the garbage and then they get shot and killed for the bears are the threat to the Canadian public.

  5. Hoping we won’t have another incident like Standing Rock. Greedy Corporations and government that have no regard for our environment and the impact it could have on all of us Canadians.

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