Pipelines: NEB to review emergency response information

The National Energy Board has decided to review how much pipeline emergency response information can be withheld from the public by energy companies.

In a speech yesterday to the Vancouver Board of Trade, Board Chair and Chief Executive Officer Peter Watson said he has launched a review and public consultation process in response to complaints he’s been hearing nationally, and most recently in Metro Vancouver, where several mayors took him to task last Friday.

"Canadians deserve to be consulted on the transparency of emergency management information for NEB-regulated pipelines," Watson said. "There may indeed be some specific information that should be kept confidential, but I believe that we have been too conservative in our approach to this issue to date."

Watson said that mayors across Canada had expressed "major concerns" over a lack of transparency surrounding the emergency management plans.

"And to tell you the truth," he said. "I haven't been happy with the amount of emergency response information that pipeline companies or the NEB has been sharing with the public."

The announcement comes on the heels of criticism surrounding Kinder Morgan's heavily redacted emergency response plan for its proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion into B.C.

The company claimed any such disclosure would compromise its security.

Edited from various sources by Elizabeth Corner

Sources: CBC, The Globe and Mail

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/28042015/pipelines-neb-to-review-emergency-response-information/