Terry Charter and Sylvia Sommer are “mad as hell” the federal government is even considering shipping oil by rail through the Bulkley Valley.
Last week, Greenpeace revealed they had obtained a federal government briefing note that shows a high level of interest in shipping oil to Asia by rail through the port of Prince Rupert. The note was prepared by Lisanne Baznet of the Petroleum Resources Branch for the Natural Resources Canada deputy minister in preparation for a March 1, 2013 meeting with CN to discuss the idea.
On Feb. 21, 2012, 46 loaded CN Rail coal cars derailed beside Charter and Sommer’s 160-acre property located on Morice-Telkwa Forest Service Rd., 16 kms west of Houston. The train tracks sit 200 feet from the couple’s property boundary.
Sommer was at home that afternoon when she heard a train engine blowing its horn. Seconds later she heard the deafening sound of crashing metal.
It wasn’t long before CN rail officials were asking for permission to go through their property to reach the derailment site to begin the mitigation work.
“They were there pretty darn quick,” Sommer said.
“It was like the army descended,” Charter said. “There were pieces of heavy equipment, trucks, vehicles, for a mile either way within 24 hours. They ripped up our whole field to get to the derailment.”
No one was injured in the incident and B.C. environmental officers said it appeared that no coal or train debris had impacted a nearby creek or the Bulkley River. The rail line was reopened within about 36 hours.
The derailment has really opened up Charter and Sommer’s eyes, they said, to just how precarious a position residents of the area are in when it comes to dangerous goods shipped being by rail through the area.
Both wildlife and people will be negatively impacted, all for the sake of the “almighty dollar,” Charter said.
For the record, the two are also vehemently opposed to Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline.
Prince Rupert Port Authority’s manager of corporate communications Michael Gurney confirmed discussions around shipping oil from Prince Rupert have taken place with the Chinese energy giant.
“Nexen has been, and continues to be, in conversation with the Prince Rupert Port Authority for a possible oil-by-rail solution,” Gurney said. “But at this point, that is strictly conversation.”
Even prior to the oil-by-rail document reaching the media, Smithers Volunteer Fire Chief Keith Stecko was sounding the alarm as to our area’s ability to deal with a derailment of hazardous materials.
Stecko told a recent town council meeting his department is not prepared to deal with spills or explosions like the one that happened in July in Lac-Megantic, Quebec.
“The real issue is, what would happen if that type of event occurred here and where would this kind of response come from?” Stecko asked. “Certainly I can tell you our fire department is not trained for this kind of event. This would require specialized equipment, specialized training.”
In the past, Stecko said CN had a hazardous materials response team stationed in Smithers. Now, it could take half a day to get people and equipment here, he said.
“My concern is when this event occurs, where is the response coming from? How quickly can it get here and how quickly can the situation be mitigated?” Stecko said. “Largely, these types of responders are contractors that come from distances away from our community. Response times in excess of 12 hours I’ve been told.”
Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen said he is hearing from his constituents that not enough is being done to equip communities with the tools needed to respond to a train derailment where hazardous materials are involved.
“That’s not me saying that, it’s our local fire chiefs and mayors,” Cullen said. “It just feels like more and more is coming down the line and CN hasn’t done a great job of bringing communities alongside and funding both the safety infrastructure that we need, overpasses in certain places, as well as the training that is required if something were to go wrong.”
“For someone to come in and propose, literally, thousands and thousands of tankers with bitumen in them, in light of the disaster in Quebec seems like a recipe to turn the public off even before the conversation starts. The public is very wary of this idea in the north.”
CN Rail could not be reached for comment by Monday’s press deadline.