At a presentation to the Committee of the Whole Monday night, Energy East Regional Director Stefan Baranski said the whole pipeline can be shut down in 12 minutes in case of an emergency. Councillor Tim Sutton pointed out, if they are moving 1.1 million barrels of oil across Canada each day, in twelve minutes quite a lot of oil could spill, and he asked how they would go about cleaning that up. Baranski said they have never had an incident of that magnitude.
“If Energy East doesn’t go, that oil will find another way to market.” That is the message Baranski sent to the Committee on November 17th. He added it is safer to move oil with a pipeline than by truck or rail. Energy East plans to move 1.1 million barrels of oil bitumen through pipeline from Alberta to Atlantic Canada.
TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline will host an Open House November 18th at the North Grenville Municipal Centre from 4 to 8pm. Baranski said engineers will be able to answer questions from the public at this event. The project application is now at the National Energy Board for review, and representatives from Energy East plan to continue community engagement and consultation in the coming months as they await project approval.