Some key points from the reports concerning TransCanada Pipelines, The Keystone project and ex-TCPL professional engineer Evan Vokes, on the FAIR website and elsewhere:-
Date: November 15th 2013
Oct 28th 2013 report (latest
available on the FAIR website):-
Point (1)
Construction quality issues are to blame for a
rise in pipeline incidents from 2000 to 2012
Point (2)
Generally they are large pipes which are liable
to explode and produce a large blast radius
Points
(3), (4) and (5)
Just
off Highway 22 at the Chain Lakes Recreation Area, 130 kilometres south of
Calgary, there is a large orange pipe that has been completely exposed by
floodwaters, which should not have happened if the pipe was buried deep enough
in the first place. But TransCanada says it is aware of the exposed pipeline
and that it has been isolated, shut down and depressurized.
Aug 9th 2013 report (FAIR website):-
Point
(6)
For
five years, Vokes had inspected TransCanada projects across North America and,
too often for his liking, found they were poorly constructed and didn’t meet
engineering codes. He’d tried to get his superiors to address the problems, to
no avail, and was fired last year.
Point
(7)
TransCanada
has long contended that Keystone XL will be the safest pipeline ever built. But
in East Texas, landowners are growing increasingly alarmed by what they’ve seen
first-hand: multiple repairs on pipeline sections with dents, faulty welds and
other anomalies. The Oklahoma-to-Texas segment of Keystone XL is 90 percent
complete, according to the company, and is expected to come online later this
year.
Vokes
says TransCanada prioritizes staying on schedule over quality. In a 28-page
complaint filed last year with the Canadian government’s pipeline regulator, he
describes rampant code violations on other TransCanada projects. He claims that
the repair work in Texas proves the company is still ignoring the engineering
codes and regulations that guide pipeline construction and warns that Keystone
XL will likely leak.
“Now
if they were actually following this,” he says, holding up a section of the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ code governing liquid hydrocarbon
pipelines, “they wouldn’t have this,” he says, pointing to an array of photos
documenting problems with the pipeline.
In
one of the photos, David Whitley—who owns 88 acres along the pipeline route
near Winnsboro—stands in front of a cut-out piece of pipeline on his property.
The words “dent cut out” are spray painted in red against the blue-green steel.
Other landowners have seen similar cutouts or stakes in the ground with the
words “anomaly” or “weld” written in Sharpie. (David
Whitley is also featured – along with Evan Vokes – in the CBS Television report
dated November 12th 2013)
Point
(8)
Dr.
Mohammad Najafi, a construction expert and civil engineering professor at
UT-Arlington, reviewed Whitley’s photos and says landowners should be concerned.
If the workers didn’t correctly “backfill” the trench and compact the soil the
pipe would not be evenly supported and could sag. The dents and sagging could
damage the pipe’s coating, leading to corrosion. Corrosion eventually creates
holes, which can cause leaks. Leaks make holes expand and can ultimately result
in ruptures.
Vokes
says these problems suggest a qualified inspector wasn’t present during
construction, as required by code. He and Najafi agree that a qualified
inspector would have ensured there was adequate padding between the pipe and
rock and wouldn’t have allowed improper backfilling. Asked how many inspectors
it hired on Keystone XL, TransCanada gave no reply but said it hired hundreds
of inspectors on Keystone I.
Landowners
in Texas are worried that the frequency of repairs on Keystone XL suggests
there are more problems in the pipeline that haven’t been detected. They also
worry about new welds; each time a piece of pipe is replaced, two new welds are
needed to attach the new section to the pipeline. Because hydrotesting is
required only once, these (repair) welds are never pressure-tested like the
rest of the welds on the line. “I’m a little bit concerned about a leak or
something now that they have cut into it and repaired it so many places,”
Whitley says.
(Note:
if all the welds were properly inspected and remedied where necessary when done
initially, before doing the hydro pressure test, there would be no issues involving
“repair” welds being “suspect”).
Point
(9)
In
2010, the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)
sent TransCanada a warning letter citing a need for improvement in the
company’s quality assurance program on the natural gas line Bison.
Bison
exploded in Wyoming four months later, just six months into operation.
(This
happened in a remote area near Gillette, Wyoming, on July 20th 2011.
Reference: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/quality-concerns-arose-before-transcanada-pipeline-blast-1.1276144
)
TransCanada
had previously touted the pipeline’s safety, assuring the public that it had to
adhere to especially stringent standards and close PHMSA oversight during
construction.
But
emails showing that TransCanada knew about serious problems on Bison surfaced
in the aftermath of the explosion. In his written complaint to Canada’s
National Energy Board, Vokes described inadequate inspections on Bison and
numerous violations on other projects. The board later verified many of Vokes’
allegations and announced it would review TransCanada’s inspections and
integrity management programs.
Keystone
XL opponents say the Bison explosion and the 12 leaks on Keystone I during its
first year of operation prove that TransCanada has a poor safety record and
routinely underestimates risks. TransCanada predicted Keystone would leak just
once in seven years and that Bison wouldn’t need to be repaired for decades
after it was built.
A
spill on Keystone XL could be devastating. In July 2010, a pipeline owned by
Canadian energy company Enbridge leaked 843,000 gallons of dilbit into the
Kalamazoo River in Michigan. The exterior coating of the pipe corroded, which
eventually led to a crack and rupture. Three years later, cleanup crews still
haven’t extracted all the fuel from the river because unlike oil, which floats on
top of water, the dense bitumen sinks after the natural gas liquids evaporate,
making it harder to clean up.
In
March, ExxonMobil’s Pegasus line, also carrying dilbit, leaked and spilled more
than 200,000 gallons in Mayflower, Arkansas. The dilbit seeped up from the
ground in a residential neighborhood and 22 homes were evacuated. Residents are
still experiencing nausea, rashes and breathing problems.
(”dilbit”
= diluted bitumen – bitumen that has been diluted with natural gas liquids to reduce
its viscosity, so as to make pumping it along pipelines possible)
July 29th 2013 report (FAIR website):-
Point
(10)
In
March, Mr. Vokes was awarded the Golden Whistle Award by Ottawa’s Peace, Order
and Good Government think tank.
Harry
Weldon, chair of Golden Whistle Award selection committee, said that Mr. Vokes
was chosen for this year’s award because he risked his career to raise the
issue of pipeline safety. The group considers a nominee’s conviction and the
substantiation of their claims in making its selection.
“This
gentleman has risked everything, he has been ostracized somewhat by his peers.
He certainly deserves recognition for taking these actions on behalf of the
country as a whole,” Mr. Weldon said.
Hearing before the Senate’s Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources
Committee on June 6th 2013
Mr.
Vokes returned to Ottawa in early June to testify before the Senate’s Energy,
Environment, and Natural Resources Committee as part of its study into the safe
bulk transport of hydrocarbons in Canada. The committee will have a difficult
time reconciling his testimony with the testimony given by the National Energy
Board and TransCanada.
In
his June 6 appearance, Mr. Vokes recounted being told by his superiors to
retract code violations that he had identified in the construction of a
pipeline. In another instance, he raised concerns over welding practices on
TransCanada infrastructure, but according to Mr. Vokes, his recommendation for
a welding quality inspection was rebuffed by management at the company.
Mr.
Vokes said that he took his concerns directly to project managers in the
company in 2010, and went on to write letters to middle management and later
TransCanada CEO Russ Girling, but was pressured to drop his claims and continue
to follow existing practices.
Mr.
Vokes said he attempted to highlight regulatory and code violations as part of
the company’s 2012 internal audit, but he told the committee that he was
dismissed before he could submit all of the supporting documentation.
“I
was forced out of the building before I could finish submitting all the
documentation. Rather, the TransCanada staff who broke the law were retained
and contributed to the audit when I could not defend my points. I had fought a
protracted battle with TransCanada management and lost, with the regulation and
code violations appearing in the internal audit,” Mr. Vokes told members of the
Senate committee.
“What
I have documented from the pipeline industry is that the mix of politics and
commercial interests has resulted in false public claims of exceptional
industry practice when the reality is that industry struggles to comply with
code and regulation, rather operating as a risk-based industry with no
enforcement or accountability,” Mr. Vokes went on to state.
A
number of Senators raised questions over pipeline safety in light of industry
claims that pipelines are the safest method of transporting bulk shipments of
oil.
“We
have been told that the pipelines have a safety record of 99.9 per cent. You
paint a very bleak picture of the pipeline industry in Canada and probably, by
extension, into the United States,” observed Alberta Conservative Senator Betty
Unger. “How do you rationalize these two very diverse points of view?”
Mr.
Vokes described it as “a large act of providence” that more pipeline ruptures
have not occurred as result of poorly constructed pipelines.
“The
problem is that, with pipelines, it waits a long time. Many times with the
pipelines, it has to be disturbed before anything will happen,” Mr. Vokes
responded. “There are thousands of cracks in the system—it’s just which ones
will become the problem. It is low probability and high consequence.”
Quebec
Liberal Senator Paul Massicotte asked Mr. Vokes whether he thought the problem
was “endemic” in the pipeline industry, or limited to his former employer.
Mr.
Vokes responded that the problem was not limited to TransCanada.
“They
are taking risks because they know that the probability is low. When the
probability is low, you keep hoping that you can extend it farther,” Mr. Vokes
replied. “On the National Energy Board site, with its unresolved issues and
summarizing offences by the various energy pipeline companies, I think it is
very clear.”
Mr.
Vokes’ testimony put TransCanada and the National Energy Board on the defensive
when representatives of both the company and the regulator appeared before the
committee on June 13 to respond to his claims.
Patrick
Smyth, the NEB’s business unit leader, praised Mr. Vokes for bringing his
concerns to the regulator’s attention before outlining the agency’s course of
action following Mr. Vokes’ complaint.
June 11th 2013 report (FAIR website):-
Point
(11)
"You
don't know you're a whistleblower until the retaliation starts," (Mr. Vokes)
said (also at the Senate hearing referred to above). "The wrong-doers in
positions of authority will do everything they can to discredit you."
June 7th 2013 report (FAIR website):-
Point
(12)
In
addition, engineering shortcuts associated with the first phase of the Keystone
XL project "resulted in substandard material being used in Keystone pump
stations," (Mr. Vokes) alleged (also at the Senate hearing referred to
above).