The Tarsands come to the Big Smoke

While the focus has been on Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline through BC's wilderness another Enbridge proposal to reverse the flow of a current pipeline to carry Dilbit east has garnered little attention. This is disturbing for many reasons  and not only because of Enbridge`s horrible safety record  amassing some 800 leaks in 11 years`but for the effect that Dilbit has on the pipeline itself.

Diluted bitumen or dilbit is highly corrosive something this pipeline was never engineered to deal with and because of its viscosity is prone to air locks causing false alarms, fooling the lines leak sensors, this likely led to the poor response from Enbridge`s control centre in the Kalamzoo leak. Now I wonder how many are aware that this pipeline cuts a swath  through the GTA and its many rivers and creeks.

Thanks to a Star article we find that for more than two years this pipeline has sat exposed in the Rouge river, one of the most sensitive ecological areas in the GTA. Enbridge`s response has been to stack a few concrete blocks up against the pipeline promising to get around to properly dealing with this disaster in the making, someday. In reaction to the Star piece, Alex from Poor Mans Media set out to see just what this safety barrier looked like. The resulting video is certainly upsetting and highlights the cavalier attitude Enbridge has towards safety.



Are these the people we want to entrust with the transport of such a dangerous substance through our neighborhoods.