Dear Editor:
Journalist Paul Sullivan, in my opinion, makes a number of factual errors and misleading claims in his recent North Shore News article Pipeline Politics May Fuel NDP Family Feud, June 9 The North Side opinion column.
Let me list a few.
Diluted bitumen is, like most any hydrocarbon, “toxic” (big surprise!), but it is not “sludge.” It meets the same requirements for “basic sediment and water” and fluidity as any other pipelined hydrocarbon (diesel, jet fuel, gasoline, etc., all of which are also “toxic”).
Mr. Sullivan quotes huge numbers for seabird kills and cleanup costs if a dilbit spill occurs, with no data sources provided and no spill size provided. This is meaningless. He also fails to mention that even in the days before double hulls, radar, GPS, coastal pilots, improved navigational aids, better marine traffic control, tethered escort tugs, we never had a crude oil tanker spill in Canada (except war years). The same is true in B.C., in our century plus of tanker operations. Yes, a spill could happen, but it seems a bit premature to set our hair on fire.
The claim (attributed to B.C. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver) that the Kinder Morgan project produces only 90 permanent jobs is grossly misleading. It ignores the many permanent jobs from the expansion of Western Canada Marine Response Corp. (the spill response outfit), thousands of construction jobs in B.C. and Alberta, dozens of marine jobs for more escort tugs, and the huge number of construction and permanent jobs in Alberta for bitumen production and in the rest of the country, including B.C., for manufacturing equipment for operations in Alberta and along the line.
The most bizarre claim might be the one that because the existing pipeline is 60 years old, “the dammed thing needs to be replaced anyway.” Poppycock.
In the pipeline business, we inspect lines regularly by a number of methods, in case their lining or electronic cathodic protection allows unacceptable corrosion. If it does, we replace sections. For example, (Enbridge’s Line 5) that passes through Michigan to Sarnia, Ont. was installed in the 1940s and was still going strong when I left in 1994. Hundreds of lines are older than Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline.
I would suggest that Mr. Sullivan research his subject further before he writes about it again. Perhaps a little more perspective and balance is in order?
John Hunter
North Vancouver
Full disclosure: Letter-writer John Hunter is a professional engineer with more than 50 years in the energy business in six countries. He has worked for dozens of energy and engineering companies including Trans Mountain Pipeline.
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