Burnaby is fighting Trans Mountain’s request to be exempted from certain fire safety plans.
In early December, the Crown corporation which is building a pipeline from Edmonton to a Burnaby terminal submitted an application Canada’s Energy Regulator asking for a “constitutional declaration” that would allow it to build without having obtained the proper fire safety permits from the city. Since then, the city has mounted a defense and last week filed affidavits accusing Trans Mountain of circumventing critically important fire safety requirements.
The central issue is how quickly the fire department might respond to a facility fire. At this time, the Burnaby terminal has 13 storage tanks with the capacity to hold 1.6 million barrels of oil. Expansion plans would see the number of storage tanks double.
Earlier this year, during a surprise site inspection, a simulated tank fire was controlled in two and a half hours (target range is four hours). But Burnaby Fire Chief Chris Bowcock said at the time He was not satisfied and wanted the department to be able to provide a robust response to a fire within 10 minutes, otherwise nearby residents would be at risk.
in a sworn declaration On Dec. 22, Bowcock told Canada’s Energy Regulator that “the key issue is Trans Mountain’s non-compliance with the fire lane standards set by the Burnaby Fire Services Statute at the terminals.”
Those standards would require access routes that are wide enough, capable of supporting heavy fire trucks, have turning radii large enough to accommodate a fire truck, and have signs clearly indicating that they are fire lanes. The affidavit says these requirements are “mandatory” and “are consistently applied.”
“As a fire marshal, I view these requirements as the basic minimum standard for commercial and industrial development projects. For developments with a higher level of fire risk, such as a hydrocarbon storage site, I would prefer to see stronger fire access standards (wider fire lanes and turning radii), ”Bowcock wrote.
What people are reading
Elsewhere in the affidavit, he explains that fire lines are not just about accessing a site, but also where firefighting equipment can be installed and where firefighters can be deployed.
“Without enough space within the fire lane for these purposes, in the event of a hydrocarbon release and / or a fire, firefighting personnel may be located closer to the flammable hydrocarbons, increasing the risk of damage or loss of fuel. lives, ”he wrote.
“As a fire chief with extensive experience in the context of planning firefighting response procedures at hydrocarbon storage facilities and developing pre-plans, I believe that there are multiple potential tank fire scenarios within the terminals that would be Unquenchable due to the lack of safe firefighting positions.
Trans Mountain and Burnaby are fighting again over fire safety, with the Crown corporation requesting a “constitutional declaration” to set aside the fire safety statutes. #cdnpoli #TMX
“With these existing risks in mind, it is of great concern to me that Trans Mountain seeks confirmation of fire lane access plans based on a standard lower than the mandatory minimum contained in the Fire Services Statute of Burnaby, ”he wrote.
In documents filed with the regulator, Trans Mountain says Burnaby is being “unreasonable” by failing to issue its building permits.
Crown Corporation says it has “tried to satisfy” Burnaby by providing a fire truck access plan and modifying it “repeatedly”, but “some of Burnaby’s requests cannot be implemented at (Westridge Marine Terminal) and Burnaby Terminal due to to site limitations, including pipeline classification and location. “
Trans Mountain said National Observer of Canada It has fire safety plans, which include early detection and fire suppression systems and training exercises, but did not answer questions related to fire lanes or how the delay in obtaining permits is affecting its construction schedule.
In its request to the regulator, Trans Mountain emphasizes that the urgency of its request is related to the construction schedule, which has been long delayed and increasingly drives up the cost of the project.
“Allowing further delays for terminal work will jeopardize the project’s construction schedule,” the Trans Mountain request reads, adding that if relief is not given by January 17, it will not be able to complete the project. in planned service. date December 2022.
In a sworn declaration Since last year, Trans Mountain CEO Ian Anderson said that each month the company is late in commissioning the pipeline accounts for about $ 100 million in lost revenue. He also said construction delays of “several months” would result in “hundreds of millions in excessive capital costs.”
On December 23, on behalf of Burnaby, Ratcliff LLP’s lead attorney, Gregory McDade answered to Trans Mountain’s request to circumvent fire safety requirements to say that the city recognizes that the Trans Mountain terminals are federally approved, and that the city cannot refuse permits if it is impossible for TMX to comply, but said this “Constitutional problem does not arise here”, calling the fire safety statutes “reasonable” and “constitutionally valid”.
“It is Trans Mountain’s non-compliance with the Fire Services Ordinance and the Building Ordinance that has prevented the issuance of permits, and it is Trans Mountain’s resistance to meeting these City obligations that has caused delays. in time, ”he wrote.
In addition, he noted that the CER is not a municipal regulator, and that it “must be careful” about overriding the very department that would have to respond to any emergency. McDade also wrote that Trans Mountain has provided no evidence that it would be impossible to meet the permitting requirements, and that before the commission accepts such a claim, it should be subject to detailed scrutiny.
“The standard in constitutional matters is high and the mere expense or additional inconvenience is not enough,” he wrote.
Mega projects like TMX are susceptible to cost overruns because minor problems can lead to longer delays since there are so many moving parts that have to happen in a certain order.
TO report released in September by the West Coast Environmental Act estimated the cost of TMX to approach $ 20 billion, much higher than the $ 12.6 billion price announced in February 2020. That report also details how Costs have risen substantially from the $ 5.4 billion initially estimated by Kinder Morgan in 2013.
John Woodside / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada National Observer
Reference-www.nationalobserver.com