The protection of Chilliwack鈥檚 drinking water was the main subject of questioning of Kinder Morgan Canada officials on day two of the National Energy Board (NEB) hearing into the company鈥檚 pipeline route realignment application.
鈥淲ould you agree that you鈥檝e carried out no scientific studies to compare the impacts of the three routes on the aquifer?鈥漚sked the city鈥檚 legal counsel Olga Rivkin.
Hydrogeologist Steve Foley responded that the company relied on decades of studies on the Sardis-Vedder aquifer, one of the most studied in the lower Fraser Valley.
鈥淭he wealth of information that was made available to us through public domain and forthcoming are provided by the City of Chilliwack, supported our entire evaluation of the routings,鈥� Foley responded.
That was not good enough for Rivkin who pursued Foley and TMEP director Greg Toth to answer why they did not conduct their own study on the impacts on the aquifer of the different possible routes.
鈥淐ould you please answer my question? Have you done comparative scientific study of the alignments?鈥�
鈥淚 guess your reference to scientific is probably different than mine,鈥� Foley responded, suggesting their analysis of previous studies done was scientific in itself.
鈥淥ur strength and our ability is to be able to weave the ideas over three decades of work,鈥� he said.
The questioning Tuesday by the City of Chilliwack follows questions Monday from the S鈥櫭砽h T茅m茅xw Stewardship Alliance (STSA) representing local Sto:lo First Nations, and it preceded questions from Ian Stephen from the WaterWealth Project.
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The hearing ordered by the NEB is looking into Trans Mountain鈥檚 request to put its new oil pipeline in the existing right-of-way over the stretch in question, which runs in the Watson elementary schoolyard and the backyards of approximately two dozen homes on Roseberry and Montcalm roads.
The route approved by the NEB over this short stretch through the city is in the BC Hydro corridor just to the north of Roseberrry.
The company asked for the change to the existing route because BC Hydro said the pipeline cannot run in between the hydro towers, so it would have to run to the south, which would be adjacent to different residential backyards on the north side of Roseberry.
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The City of Chilliwack, and Stephen with WaterWealth, prefer the BC Hydro route approved by the NEB because it is further from the aquifer and the city鈥檚 wells.
Trans Mountain argues that both routes are outside the aquifer area anyway, and in the unlikely event of a leak, material would run to the north towards the Fraser River away from the aquifer.
鈥淸If] both routes extend outside capture, that relative change in vulnerability is negligible,鈥� Foley said.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a big 鈥榠f,鈥欌�� Rivkin responded, later pressing the issue finally getting Foley to agree in part to what she was suggesting: 鈥淔arther is better,鈥� he said.
Rivkin further pushed Foley on what she said was an insufficient response to the city鈥檚 concerns about the impact on the aquifer with the pipeline realignment. She quoted the company鈥檚 own evidence that said the consultant鈥檚 report 鈥渨as never intended as definitive.鈥�
鈥淪o again, my point to you is that you鈥檝e never provided to the city the detailed response to its concerns that you鈥檝e acknowledged and to which detailed response is clearly promised,鈥� she said.
Foley responded that the interrogation hinged on semantics as she used the word 鈥渄etailed鈥� and the company said 鈥渄efinitive.鈥�
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 semantical. I think it鈥檚 pretty clear that there has been no detailed response that is determinative and that assures the City that the re-route is safe,鈥� Rivkin said. 鈥淭hat is really not brain science here. We want to be sure that this is safe.鈥�
鈥淵ou鈥檝e just linked 鈥榙efinitive鈥� to 鈥榙etailed,鈥� so we are talking semantics,鈥� Foley responded.
Rivkin continued her questioning of the company Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday morning the hearing continued with NEB lawyers asking the company questions, which was scheduled to be followed by NEB questioning of the intervenors.
The entire week was booked for the hearing, but an NEB spokesperson said it was likely to wrap up Thursday with closing arguments from all parties.
A decision on the pipeline routing by the NEB will likely take a number of months.
paul.henderson@theprogress.com
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