Enbridge finds more leaks in Norman Wells pipeline

The construction of Norman Wells pipeline started in the late 70s after 20 years of environmental assessment and review. At the time it seemed like a boom to the Northwest Territories economy, because we didn't know any better. However, Enbridge has not done a good job monitoring this pipeline. They claim it's hard to monitor it due to it's isolated location, which is built mostly on the tundra in the middle of nowhere. But it is the land caribou used for migration and these leaks have contaminated that land. The caribou are a major food source up here.

The Harper government pretends to care about the environment, but their 2012 budget eliminated Fresh Water Monitoring and cuts Environment Canada's budget in half. They have also laid off half of the government scientists and have silenced the rest. No one in the federal government is allowed to speak out against the Tar Sands. When the leader of the Opposition Party visited Washington recently he was accused of being unpatriotic because he apparently told Nancy Pelosi that not all Canadians were in favor of the Tar Sands.

The government has also threatened organizations like the Canadian Wildlife Federation that if they campaign or inform the public about the impact the Tar Sands are having on the wildlife, they will lose their charitable status.

Actually it was completed in 1985. It's a warm crude pipeline thru permafrost.I was wrong , But the older ones farther north started flowing in 1944. Either way it won't hold up forever. I 'm glad the company is honest and reporting this to the public.

http://www.arlis.org/docs/vol1/ICOP/40770716/CD-ROM/Proceedings/PDF001189/130360...

I agree with your comment about these older pipelines not holding up forever and that they need to be monitored and replaced when required. However, even though Enbridge claims there was no cover up of the two other breaks that they were cleaning up when they discovered the new break, they do not have a good record in rapid responses to the oil spills.

By the way, where are the ones located that you mentioned started flowing in 1944, as I am not aware of any other completed pipelines in the Northwest Territories? They have been discussing building a Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, and the federal government is trying to push that one through before the environmental assessment is completed. But I never heard about any older ones.

Thank you for posting this video. The sad thing is that it is worse now then when this video was made. If just the pictures of what the Tar Sands actually looks like doesn't scare the bejesus out of people then they either need glasses or their heads examined. I would love to ask Harper how many more of us have to die before you understand that oil for the sake of oil isn't the answer.

Out of sight, out of mind.
The whole problem is conservatives don't believe in science and worship their god, money. This is a political problem.

A big political problem that I don't see being resolved anytime soon as long as they consider that making money is more important then people's lives.

It is when they keep lying and telling the public that pipelines are safe. Especially when the Canadian government is pushing the American government to approve the XL Pipeline that will carry the dirtiest oil, where if a pipeline leaks it will be even harder to clean up then regular crude oil.

The oil extracted from the tar sands has already had an impact on northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories, which had resulted in mutant fish and extremely high cancer rates, that is only getting worse. I would think that others would not want to experience what we've have gone through, since the development of the tar sands.

It's all Northernexpat and Hardytoo - I'm just adding a couple of little peeps based on my own experience. What does SSDD mean? Or do I want to know :)

*edited - forgot to add Northernexpat :)

OK, cpad. Thanks for adding. SSDD....Same Shit, Different Day.

Thanks Leen - new one to me, lol.

There are days that one says it all.

I'll have to remember SSDD. So very true.

It's an oldie but a goodie.

"Just hidden from view (and inspection)"

An excellent observation and correct.

It's like saying 'clean coal'! It's all bullshit meant to confuse the public.

Absolutely. I was a city councillor for seven years and part of my job was dealing with our city's infrastructure. There is NO way to stop pipes from leaking, no matter what these companies try to tell us.

This especially true when the pipeline is in the middle of the tundra and they don't provide proper monitoring or maintenance.

Yes. And in any case, there is NO way they are going to provide the level of monitoring and maintenance necessary to minimize the chance of leaks. And there's no way they're going to replace the whole damn thing as soon as the level of wear indicates it will start leaking. To do so would be outrageously expensive. They will do the bare minimum they can get away with, and continue to lie to us that it is safe.

Yes indeed the leak. I was once involved with connecting sensor clusters to telemetry data lines. This was on a high pressure natural gas line. They had sensors every 5 miles for leak isolation. They were pressure and vapor detection sensors. They knew it would leak eventually. If they had a pressure drop the motorized valves would shut. That is assuming the system worked. It sometimes didn't.

Interesting. So the systems designed to catch leaks can fail as well.

Excellent information, wyley. They sure have been known to fail - every year.
Now imagine that pipeline stretching over many 1000s of miles or barren, frozen tundra - where no one lives (anyone who could call an alert) - the frost heaves alone cause all sorts of problems in our North Country.
The fact that Enbridge failed to even check out an "alarm" on the Kalamazoo line for almost 24 HOURS is criminal; I'm surprised that the NTSB hasn't charged them that alone - altho', it sounds like the most recent critique from NTSB, telling them that their "clean up wasn't good enough" is coming pretty close to criminal charges - hope so.

In my case the line was only 100 miles approximately and the operators used to call and request testing to verify the trouble. One thing they did not do, in my example, was deny that there was a possibility of leakage. Their function was to catch the leak before it became a problem. Natural gas leaks tend to explode if uncorrected.

Thanks for the added links regarding the problems associated with this company. They took a long time to discover the first two leaks on the Norman Wells pipeline. This has contaminated land used by migrating caribou. I don't think they will be able to completely clean it up no matter what they say. Also. even though they are cleaning it up now, the leaks were discovered a while ago and they tried to lie about them.

That's so sad.
Wasn't it John McCain (during his attempted election campaign) when he extolled the virtues of adding more northern pipelines - I seem to recall he said something to the effect that the "caribou just love to hang around those heated pipes.. to warm up...." - what an incredible crazy statement from a crazy old fart.

I just do not understand why the media does not do its job. This is such old news to the hippies but much of the population has their blinders on with well its not hurting me if they let anything through.

I do not understand why the media doesn't cover this more. It's like they seem to think that the so-called benefits of pipelines outweigh the major impacts they have on the environment. Of course, the MSM is owned by corporate America, who controls the message.

The media is no longer the "freedom of the press." Just like our elected officials, they have been bought off. They will spend the next month discussing the election of the pope, or the Arias murder trial, or the weather. But they avoid keeping us informed, or worse, they downplay the issue of global warming - it's not so bad - and despite loss of support from the communities they are supposed to be reporting to, they continue to do the bidding of Big Oil, Big Banks and Big Industry. It's shameful.

"Of course, the MSM is owned by corporate America, who controls the message." There's the answer to why media isn't all over this. There's a reason the government allowed more and more media ownership by fewer and fewer hands. The corporations bought the pols and the rules got changed so the corporations could control the message.

And the world has gone to hell so much faster since that happened. Democracy? Not without an informed public. National laws? Not so much, not since all those 'trade agreements' that basically override any nation's laws if the corporations decide the laws inhibit 'trade' (trade being whatever the frack they want to do).

Corporations, Big Oil, Media, all owned by the same Hoarder Class 'shareholders' who also profit from war and famine. It's class warfare and it is global.

Truth!