Enbridge Line 9B pipeline reversal testing not good enough, residents say

A group of Mirabel, Que., residents who oppose the Line 9B pipeline-reversal project held a protest today demanding that the National Energy Board require more stringent testing.

In June, the NEB said Enbridge would have to run tests on the safety of the tunnel running through three municipalities, including Mirabel, using a form of measurement called SMYS, or specified minimum yield strength.

SMYS,used by the American Department of Transportation,teststhe resistance of metal.

A statement from the NEB in Junesaid Line 9B passes through a heavily urbanized area with several waterways. It said any release would quickly end up in water systems and affect a large number of people.

However, in July,Enbridgeasked for and got permission to change the kind of testing it needed to do to prove the safety of the pipeline reversal. Instead of the standardSMYS, the company tested only to the capacity of the pipeline and not above.

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"There is no value gained in testing above this certifiable maximum. Especially, there is no value gained in testing the pipe beyond this limit for the sake of checking its 'ultimate'limit by way of testing to failure,"said Ken Hall ofEnbridge.

But for many residents living along the pipeline, that's not good enough.

Unsatisfactory answers

Protester and anti-pipeline activistLorraine Caronsaid the NEB didn't give a satisfactory answer when concerned citizens asked why it had changed its mind in July about the level of testing.

"When we asked the NEB why they changed their decision, the NEB simply replied, 'Oh, well it's because it's the way it was made in 1997. It'll be morein linewith whatEnbridgeis suggesting,'" she said.

Caronsaid it was like hiring a roofer to install new shingles on your housemeant to last 25 years, but then a worker installs a 15-year roof by reasoning thatthe house was already made of inferior material.

Enbridgehas been seeking permission to reverse a 639-kilometre stretch of Line 9B from from NorthWestover, Ont., to Montreal. The project wouldcarry western oil, including Alberta dilutedoilsandsbitumen, to eastern Canadian refineries.