Report: Catastrophic Enbridge Pipeline Rupture Risk Still Too Big

"A 'complete breakdown of safety' in 2010 has not been sufficiently addressed, a neglect that may spell trouble for its other aging lines, the report says."



"Pipeline regulators in Canada and the United States are being cautioned that claims by Enbridge Inc. that it improved its safety procedures and adopted sophisticated inspection practices are exaggerated and that pipeline ruptures as catastrophic as the company's 2010 accident in Marshall, Mich. are still possible.

The warning came in a report filed this month with the Canadian National Energy Board, which is considering Enbridge's request to reverse the flow of an oil pipeline in Eastern Canada and to use the line to carry diluted bitumen, or dilbit. The report was subsequently lodged with the U.S. Department of State.

'Enbridge is still not heeding pipeline investigators/regulators in integrity management,' said the report by Richard Kuprewicz, president of the engineering consulting company Accufacts Inc. and an adviser to the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. 'Enbridge has a culture where safety management seems not to be a critical component of their operation.'"

David Hasemyer reports for InsideClimate News August 22, 2013.

Source: InsideClimate News, 08/23/2013