Mock exercise contains faux oil spill in QW – Belleville Intelligencer
Oil-spill response teams from across North America descended upon the Trent River with government authorities on Wednesday to contain a mock emergency breach of the Ontario-Quebec petroleum pipeline running parallel with the north shore of Lake Ontario.
Roughly 150 response personnel from 28 private and public agencies and organizations worked to prevent a faux worst-case leak in the 850-kilometre refined-fuel pipeline that crosses at the Trent River just south of the Glen Miller bridge.
Owned by Trans-Northern Pipelines Inc., the pipeline runs from Montreal to Nanticoke, Ontario, and transports on average 172,900 barrels of refined fuel products every day.
Emergency crews set up at Sidney Lock 2 where a large boom was dispatched to the scene, a runoff creek that empties from the western side of the river.
Ontario Provincial Police blocked southbound entrance to Highway 33 to keep traffic away from the area as marine units from OPP and Quinte West Fire Department plied the river. nearby.
Luc Camire, vice-president of operations, Trans-Northern Pipelines Inc. (TNPI) said on Wednesday that he was pleased with the level of cooperation with team members from everyone in Quinte West and OPP to Canadian military and oil and response companies.
Camire was quick to point out in conversation with The Intelligencer the firm takes safety extremely seriously.
“This is part of exercises that we do on a regular basis. It’s important to be ready, even though the event is very unlikely. We just want to make sure that we know how to deal and interact efficiently with all of our partners and stakeholders,” Camire said.
“Our plans have already predetermined where we can intercept the product to mitigate the impact,” he said of the day’s scenario and response plan. “Today, we’re practising the deployment of those plans.”
Practising to control a leak of fuel in a water source is a good learning experience to help authorities better meet the challenges in a real-life situation, Camire said.
“Depending on the conditions of wind and so on, it could migrate in different conditions so that’s what this exercise is about – direct the product and contain it,” he said. “We try and do it in different areas so that we get to interact with local agencies along our pipeline.”
Quinte West Fire Chief John Whelan, who also serves as the municipality’s emergency management coordinator, said about a dozen of his people worked on the exercise.
“This really is an actual event, down to real time and everybody being signed in,” Whelan said. “We started almost a year ago with the planning of this.”
Whelan thanked the pipeline firm for working closely with the city to give all a better understanding of what’s involved in and around keeping the pipeline safe.
“We learned a lot about the pipeline itself, the process and all of the safeguards in place. There are lots in place and lots of resources. If we ever do have a big catastrophe, I’m not worried we can’t handle it,” Whelan said.
Whelan said Mayor Jim Harrison, deputy Mayor Jim Alyea and Coun. Sally Freeman, chairwoman of the Environment Services Committee, have been engaged in the exercise since the start and helped to ensure a smooth learning day for response teams.
Mayor Harrison said he appreciated the effort Trans-Northern Pipelines put into the mock exercise to protect the environment in the wake of a systems failure.
“They’re business people, but their most important aspect is safety,” Harrison said, “and making sure there is no negative impact on the environment. It is fantastic. It’s been very thorough, I am very pleased to be here.”
Watching the mock exercise gave Mayor Harrison a sense of comfort knowing there are highly detailed plans in place to counter any problems with the system.
“If something does go wrong, they’ve got the ability to bring everyone together quickly and make sure whatever it is, is handled properly, efficiently and quickly,” he said.
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