Geotech Team Mission

As a member of the geotechnical team that studied the Trans Mountain pipeline in the mid-1990s, engineer Dharmapriya Wijewickreme says Kinder Morgan's early task will be to identify risks posed to the new pipeline by soil movements, such as seismic activity, and then gear the designs to avoid, isolate or withstand the effects of those risks.

"When you're going with a new pipe alignment, someone, either from a regulatory or social point of view, will be asking questions," Wijewickreme says. "When they do that, you'd like to say, 'These are the mitigative measures we're going to take.' "

One person who will be asking lots of questions is Karen Wristen, executive director of the Living Oceans Society, British Columbia. Her main concern is the 34 tankers, travelling through nearby islands and the Juan de Fuca Strait, the pipeline will supply.

"It's not without its risk as it stands," Wristen says. "It's not the simplest route, and certainly the lands that are at risk, should there be an accident, are some of the most spectacular that we've got."

The answer to Wristen's concerns, says Toth, is a Transport Canada standard that requires a thorough study to assess tanker traffic in relation to the navigational and environmental challenges that exist. "That will also include frequency or potential for impact to tankers as well as the impact of potential spills on the ecology. They're very comprehensive," he says.