Kinder Morgan has dropped a bomb. The bitumen pipeline trafficker wants to triple its existing pipeline capacity. From Island Tides:
Citing ‘additional customer support’, Kinder
Morgan recently announced that it intends to
increase the capacity of its proposed new ‘twin’
oil pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby.
The current capacity of the existing Trans
Mountain pipeline is approximately 300,000
barrels per day (bpd). While the pipeline
capacity in the original expansion proposal was
750,000bpd, this updated proposal brings the
capacity of the two pipelines, existing and
proposed, to 890,000bpd.
The diameter of the new twin pipeline was
previously proposed to be 30 inches. It will now
be 36 inches–a 44% increase in capacity. The
cost estimate for the project has also
increased–from $4.1 billion to $5.4 billion.
Kinder Morgan expects to file the formal
application to build the pipeline in late 2013.
Kinder Morgan says that with the enlarged
pipeline, an increase from one loading berth to
three, and increased storage and pumping
capacity, they expect to load over 400 Aframax
tankers per year, or at least one daily. The City
of Vancouver and the Tsleil-Waututh First
Nation have both registered their objection to
increased oil shipping.
Increased capacity of the pipeline is expected
to result in an even greater increase in the
number of tankers exporting crude bitumen
from the Westridge Terminal in Burnaby.
In addition to crude bitumen for export, the
pipeline currently transports oil to Vancouver area
refineries, particularly the Chevron
refinery in North Burnaby. However, increased
shipments of crude bitumen, instead of
conventional oil, have recently threatened local
refinery supply.
Wow. It seems Kinder Morgan figures Ottawa's in the bag on this one. And it probably is, no matter who wins the next election.
2 comments:
Vancouver and F.N. say, no way. Vancouver is a tourist haven. They don't even want the tankers that are there right now. Vancouver can't have any more danger from a tanker spill. That would kill the city. I don't know anyone in BC who gives a damn about Kinder Morgan, any more than they do the Enbridge pipeline.
There will be a fight. No more dirty tankers, no more dirty pipelines.
Actually, Anon, I think they're on shaky ground. They're being overtaken by events - by physics and nature. If the F.N. can tie them up in the courts for a few years and the public can hold them off for a few more, their clock may run out. That's why it's so important to prevent that first tanker sailing out of Kitimat.
Post a Comment