Enbridge slammed over handling of U.S. oil spill

“How can we trust Enbridge to build two pipelines safely across nearly 800 rivers and streams in Alberta and British Columbia?” ForestEthics spokesperson Nikki Skuce said in a statement.

“This company cannot be trusted with our wild salmon rivers,” she said.

The comments follow the release today (July 10) by a U.S. government agency of findings from an investigation into a crude oil spill from an Enbridge pipeline in 2010.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it took Enbridge 17 hours to respond to the spill in a wetland area in Michigan, news reports said.

The agency also said Enbridge failed to address a corrosion problem that was known about for several years before the pipeline ruptured, reports said.

“Enbridge is a company of ‘too little, too late’—whether in responding to warnings about infrastructure corrosion, responding to oil spill alarm systems, or trying to gain social license across new proposals,” Skuce said in the statement.

“The risks are too high for Northern Gateway and Enbridge is a company that cannot be trusted to mitigate them,” she said.

Enbridge said in a statement it is reviewing the National Transportation Safety Board’s summary report and will not comment on any findings until an analysis of the final report is complete.

"We believe that the experienced personnel involved in the decisions made at the time of the release [of oil from the pipeline in Michigan] were trying to do the right thing,” Enbridge CEO Patrick Daniel said in the statement.

“As with most such incidents, a series of unfortunate events and circumstances resulted in an outcome no one wanted,” Daniel said.

Stephen Wuori, Enbridge’s president of liquids pipelines, maintained safety is a priority for the Calgary-based company.

Wuori said in a statement that efforts have been made to learn from the Michigan spill and prevent any similar incidents.

Enbridge’s plan to build a pipeline link between Alberta and the B.C. coast is opposed by environmentalists and First Nation groups who fear a potential spill.

The Northern Gateway pipeline proposal is undergoing a federal review.