I would agree that pipelines could be a key to Canada's future, the question is whether this is a positive or negative part of the economy in particular BCs economy. Mr. Reicher claims that considering the large volume of product being transported the industry safety record is extremely good I guess a leak every 5.5 days is extremely good to people with vested interests and rose colour glasses, the fact is that even if you accept Mr. Reichers figure of 99.9985 the actual leakage will still be three or four times the present amount just by the increased volume.
Mr. Reacher acknowledges the fact that Canada and Steven Harper could do more to become less dependent on fossil fuels unfortunately the sad reality is as long as we have Harper the proud recipient of the Colossal Fossil award 5 years running this situation shall only get worse, it is also clear that if it was up to oil companies we would never make that move to clean energy.
I had to chuckle at Mr. Reichers use of Alberta Innovates - Technology Futures (AITF) an Alberta marketing corporation to legitimize his claim about how dilbit is no different than crude oil and causes no more pipeline breaks than conventional oil (AITF) was established on January 1, 2010 to LEVERAGE Alberta's established strengths in research innovation, I am sure they could come up with any “FACTS” you required of them but, the reality is dilbit is a corrosive toxic acidic slurry with 5-10 times more sulphur and more chloride salts most resembling grinding compound than oil which literally sandblasts pipe interiors and it’s inconsistency is prone to developing bubbles and subsequently pressure fluctuations it’s very nature requires higher pressures and heat to get it to move at all, which I believe is what caused the Kalamazoo pipeline break, a million gallons of dilbit ($800 million and counting ).
The fact is Mr. Reicher you do not think about anything but money, the spills, pollution and subsequent environmental damage and the costs that you are sometimes forced to pay are just the cost of doing business and are just passed on to the customer. The utopian statement that pipeline operators would never jeopardize their safety record and reputation must have really made your nose grow, oil companies are in it for the money and they have shown repeatedly all over the world their indifference to the damage they do from Alaska, Brazil, Ecuador, Kalamazoo, Nigeria to Gulf of Mexico and BP who just paid multi-billions in fines,14 criminal charges 11 felony counts, even charges of manslaughter, does this sound like people that care about the consequences of their actions, the environment or the people that work for them or the victims that because of big oils criminal negligence literally destroys peoples livelihood or poisons their children, I don’t think so.
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