At April 18th Council Enbridge presented an update and overview of the project to construct a pipeline to serve the York Energy Centre.

I made a real effort to listen calmly, to hear what was being said.  It was an effort as I never expected to be in this situation as I had been so sure that such as a presentation would never occur as surely the YEC would be stopped.  And when that bubble burst I was sure that the OEB would allow a hearing to review the routing decision as surely the right route had not been selected.  But, that bubble was also burst.

So indeed such a meeting is appropriate; and I appreciate that Mayor Pellegrini requested it.

So what did I learn?

The hypothesized implication of all the ground water observed recently in Pottageville has not been correct.  This issue is summarized quite clearly in Greg Locke’s blog; you can read it here.

There are many technical factors & innovations which indicate that probability of a rupture is low, even very low but as Mr. Murray (spokes person for Enbridge) acknowledged, accidents can happen.

Some of those technical factors I have listed below:

i)  pipe is being laid below frost level:  minimum depth is 1.5 meters; in some instances it will be buried with a depth of  4-5 m;

ii)  acoustic monitoring will be in place along the pipeline.  When excavation noise is heard, resources will be dispatched from Richmond Hill to investigate;

iii) Monitoring programs for leaks—an annual survey plus leak detecting devices installed.

Enbridge attempted to discount the significance of the 3,600 pipeline strikes in Ontario by saying that most of those occur when it is small pipes which are buried less deeply.  I asked for the statistics to support this.

Mayor Pellegrini inquired about laying concrete pads/plates above the pipeline to serve as another warning to a back hoe operator.   Their response was mixed; follow up will be required.

In conclusion:  there is more risk than there needs to be; and for me the proximity to the schools makes this particularly uncomfortable.