FAQ ABOUT TMX
Where is the pipeline supposed to be built?
Below, you can find an illustrative map that shows the exact route of the TMX pipeline. It starts in Edmonton, Alberta and ends in Burnaby, Vancouver at the tank farm. Vancouver’s harbour will be used to ship the oil across the Pacific and to its customers.
What does the TMX expansion plan include?
The plan is to twin a new pipeline with Trans Mountain’s existing pipeline which will triple amount of product moving from Edmonton to West Ridge Marine Terminal. This means tripling storage capacity of the Tank Farm and expanding the marine terminal to accommodate three tankers at once. Additionally, Trans Mountain wants to add 13 new tanks to the existing 13 (14 new tanks, plus one replacement), bringing the total to 26 tanks on the same 1.89-acre site right next to SFU’s campus on Burnaby Mountain. However, they want to increase storage of processed oil without increasing the footprint of the facility, which means storage tanks will be close to each other, closer to campus access roads and close to the campus itself. This is extremely risky and dangerous.
How much product will be stored after the expansion?
In total, Trans Mountain plans to store 5.6 mil barrels, which is 1.14 the amount of Deepwater Horizon spill (4.9 million barrels) and over 4x full Exxon Valdez ships (1.3 million barrels).
Is TMX harmful to the environment?
The proposed pipeline and tank farm expansion will pose serious and lost-lasting environmental threats. This includes both air pollution through evaporating gas and toxins that SFU students will inevitably come into contact with. In case of an oil spill, all of the land, flora and fauna around the pipeline will be endangered and/or seriously harmed. Additionally, ocean wildlife that is on BC’s coast will be disturbed by the increased tankers that will transport the extracted oil. According to the Rainforest Conservation Foundation, the sound pollution generated by the sevenfold increase in tanker traffic would further endanger marine mammal populations
How likely is an oil spill after the expansion of TMX?
While the Kinder Morgan CEO claims that a spill is very unlikely, an extensive study showed that if the proposed pipeline is built, the likelihood of a spill in the Burrard Inlet over fifty years lies at 79-87% for any size spill. In the case that this happens, our environment, our health, and what we consider “normal” will be endangered.
Does TMX pose a threat to SFU students’ safety and well-being?
SFU students have to commute to Burnaby Mountain to attend classes, and there is only one intersection that leads to campus. This intersection is right next to the tank farm. Every day, students in buses are less than 30 meters away from the tank farm. This means that if there is a fire or an oil spill, SFU students - especially those living and working on campus - will be physically trapped on the mountain.
What are the health and safety of a tank fire?
The smoke from a tank fire would lead to any of the following health consequences for nearby residents:
Eye irritation
Breathing complications
Headaches, nausea/vomiting and dizziness
Entering into shock, convulsions
Unconsciousness
Death
Additionally, a fire in one tank could trigger fires in additional storage tanks, which would have grave health and safety consequences for the Forest Grove, Meadowood and Sperling-Duthie communities, as well as all those around Gaglardi Way and Burnaby Mountain Parkway.
How likely will a fire erupt on the tank farm?
According to a study commissioned by the City of Burnaby, with the expansion of the tank farm, the chance of a tank fire increases from a 1 in a million chance per year to a 1 in 2000 chance per year. While this may not seem like a very high possibility, given the high-risk location of the tank farm (proximity to residential areas, wildlife, and SFU) and the tight spacing between the tanks, any incidents could have catastrophic effects. Even if no fire erupts at the farm itself, forest fires and residential fires could easily spread to the tank and cause an explosion. In fact, in January 2019 a fire on Burnaby Mountain came within 250 metres of the nearest tank. And while the fire was contained, according to Barry Mawhinney, an assistant fire chief in the Burnaby Fire Department, had the fire occurred in summer and the foliage drier, the situation could have been significantly more dire.
Has a tank farm explosion happened elsewhere before?
The Crockett Fuel Facility fire in California is the most recent tank farm fire incident. It took 8 hours and 200 firefighters to contain the fire. Nearby residents were asked to shelter-in-place, in fear of hazardous materials being released. People were advised to stay indoors, close all windows and doors, and turn off all heaters, air conditioners, and fans. They were also urged to cover any cracks around doors or windows with tape or damp towels. The smoke from the fire can be seen even from San Francisco.
““Tuesday’s tank farm explosion and fire at a facility in the San Francisco Bay area has also served to underscore our fears. The fact that the Trans Mountain tank farm expansion has been green lighted without identifying a safety plan seriously puts our neighbourhood at risk.””
In 2009, the Catano Tank Farm Fire occurred in Puerto Rico. The first explosion caused a magnitude 2.8 earthquake on the Richter Scale and blew out windows in a 2 miles radius. The Governor of Puerto Rico and President Obama declared a State of Emergency so they could appropriately respond to this disaster. More than 1500 people had to be evacuated, and it took two full days to extinguish the blaze. Imagine the toxins and environmental damage a fire, that burns for two days, causes. Luckily, the huge plume of toxic smoke was blown northwards away from Puerto Rico and surrounding islands, which prevented more harm to be done to Puerto Ricans.
The Buncefield fire in England has a similar story: initially, a single tank ignited and exploded with the force of a 2.4 magnitude earthquake, causing other tanks to ignite and explode. The initial and subsequent blasts were heard up to two hundred miles away in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Buildings near the tank farm had doors and windows blown in, roofs blown off, and a warehouse half-a-mile away collapsed. Windows were blown out of an abbey five miles away. Over two-thousand people were evacuated due to concerns about further explosions, fumes and smoke, and the structural safety of buildings hit by the blasts. Schools, offices, and major roads in a ten-mile radius were closed and people were asked to stay in-doors due to air quality concerns. Responders fought the blaze for four days, but ultimately they let the fire burn itself out. The initial blast occurred just after 6:00 am, when many of the closest schools and offices were empty. Still, 244 people required medical aid, mostly for respiratory issues and cuts and scrapes from flying glass and debris.
““I was lying awake last night thinking, ‘I don’t want to live here anymore.’ I feel scared and vulnerable, it’s not safe” ”
The Buncefield fuel depot fire, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England
Is the Trans Mountain or Burnaby Fire Department prepared to deal with this magnitude of fire?
The Trans Mountain Expansion Plan (TMEP) presents a significantly larger fire control risk within the Trans Mountain Tank Farm (TMTF). The identified increase in events with potential to escalate and extend to adjacent storage tank exposures due to insufficient firefighting deployment positions increases the likelihood of a multiple tank fire (including the potential of having to allow one or several storage tanks to burnout over 2-4 days), toxic smoke plume discharge (including long term chemical exposure to adjacent communities), and heat discharge to areas outside the facility (including high probability of fire extension to the forest areas of the Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area. The risk of community impacts outside of the facility from a TMTF fire event are increased by 70%.
In order to extinguish a tank fire within the Trans Mountain Tank Farm emergency responders could be forced to significantly risk their personal safety in order to overcome the design inadequacies of the facility. Specifically, the configuration of the tank farm on a hillside in such a tight footprint would require firefighting personnel to operate in elevated positions above the tank, exposing them to potentially excessive heat and smoke outfalls. In these instances emergency responders would likely be forced to allow the tank fire to burn out while adjacent tanks are protected.
What is SFU’s emergency response plan?
According to LaLonde, “SFU has a comprehensive emergency plan that is updated annually and provides for a range of emergency situations that could occur. We also conduct a series of regular training events to practice and test various emergency plans, which include the involvement of emergency first responders such as fire and police at our campus locations in Burnaby, Surrey, and Vancouver.” SFU’s safety department does have emergency plans for fires and earthquakes but they are not comprehensive and not long-term. As stated-above, the Burnaby Fire Department is not equipped to handle a potential fire at the tank farm and so it is not helpful to deploy first responders such as fire and police at SFU.
Are Indigenous sovereignty and land title respected during the construction of the pipeline?
In November 2019, BC ruled that the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples would be effective. The declaration explicitly states that Indigenous nations have the right to protect and claim their land title, among other things. Additionally, Indigenous land title is protected in the Canadian Constitution under section C-35: “Existing Aboriginal land rights can no longer be extinguished without the consent of those Aboriginal Peoples holding interests in those lands.” Despite this, BC is ignoring countless lawsuits and protests of Indigenous Nations who do not consent to the pipeline. For example, the Wet’suwet’en are protesting the pipeline on their unceded, traditional territory, and some members have been arrested by the RCMP. Canada is undermining its own constitution and violating Indigenous sovereignty to the most dreadful extent!
Is it economically profitable to expand the pipeline?
As we have seen and continue to see with the COVID-19 pandemic, oil is not a sustainable or profitable resource for the long-term. An oil barrel was traded in the negative because there was simply no demand for oil. Canada’s oil market is not resilient enough to withstand pandemics or any other disturbances, even though they will increase with our ongoing climate crisis. Adding to this, experts expect future oil supply to be much lower because the price of oil is consistently decreasing.
This means that in the future, we will have to rely on alternatives to fossil fuels, so it makes no sense to invest billions of dollars into a project that will not be profitable. The TMX expansion will only generate $9.86 million per year for British Columbia - that’s 0.7% of BC’s corporate tax revenues, and 0.05% of the overall provincial tax revenues (CredBC, 2013). These numbers are simply too low to balance profit with cultural, environmental and social hazards.