Canada: Senate committee told pipelines are safer than rail

Less than two months after a runaway train loaded with crude oil smashed into the centre of Lac Megantic, Quebec, a Canadian Senate energy committee is ready to release its report on safe hydrocarbon transport.

The report, being made public later today, will discuss best practices for moving products such as diluent, bitumen and crude oil across Canada.

Report set to claim pipelines are safer than rail transport

“We anticipate and we hope that government will accept some of our recommendations which I believe - and I think most people will see -are very, very specific and very powerful,” said Deputy Committee Chair Grant Mitchell.

“We think this is a timely report and, certainly in the context of the pipeline debate and Lac Megantic, it will probably have a heightened profile in the interest it receives,” Mitchell said. “It will be of great interest to industry, to regulators and to the government.”

The committee started studying pipeline, rail and tanker industry safety regulations back in November 2012. Over the last nine months, senators met with dozens of industry regulators, spill response people and government officials who discussed the current hydrocarbon transport safety regime.

The majority of experts who addressed the committee spoke specifically about pipelines, which were repeatedly touted as the safest way to shuttle oil and gas across the country.

Pipelines are the consensus

“As far as bulk transportation over long distance, pipelines are clearly the winner. They are more economical by several factors and they are safer by several factors,” said National Energy Board engineer Iain Colquhoun when he testified before committee in December 2012.

“The consensus is that pipelines are the safest way to move crude oil long distances; better than rail,” echoed John Foran, Director of oil and gas policy and regulatory affairs at Natural Resources Canada. He addressed the committee in February 2013.

During a news conference in Quebec City at the beginning of August, Prime Minister Stephen Harper maintained that pipelines are the safest way to transport energy. Quebec City Mayor Régis Labeaume, who joined the Prime Minister for the announcement, said he favours crude pipelines and that “the fewer trains, the better.”

Edited from various sources by Elizabeth Corner

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