The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that a 200,000-litre pipeline spill in southeastern Saskatchewan, discovered on Jan. 20, is now under investigation
by the Saskatchewan
government. A Canadian Press dispatch to The Globe reports that the province
will try to determine why
the pipeline's leak-detection system
did not flag the leak. The spill has cast a spotlight
on the problems with detecting
pipeline leaks, an issue that will
become more important with
approvals in place to build the
Trans Mountain expansion and
Line 3 replacement. The two
projects would be the first oil
export pipelines to start construction
in Canada since 2008.
Pipeline Safety Trust director Carl Weimer says, "The current leak detection
companies use aren't particularly
effective." A study in 2012 for the
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
showed the operators' control
rooms detected 17 per cent of
oil spills.
In Canada, the National Energy
Board started in 2015 to
track in detail how leaks are
discovered.
Still, the NEB data are similar to
that of the United States, with
control rooms detecting 20 of
the 128 leaks of oil, gas and other
substances in the past two
years.
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