TransMountain is committed to transparency involving any and all spills that haveoccurred along our lines, or on partner vessels carrying Trans Mountain-transported product. Information about reported spills is available to thepublic.
Whileno spill is acceptable, when one does happen, Trans Mountain notifies theNational Energy Board (NEB) – the independent federal regulator of pipelines inCanada since 1961.
Asa regulated company, Kinder Morgan is responsible for reporting spills greaterthan 1.5m3 or any spill to a water bodyregardless of volume. Over the years, the NEB has revised the spillreporting criteria for pipeline companies. Trans Mountain has followed all NEB regulations in terms of reportingpipeline leaks and malfunctions, according to the rules and thresholds listedbelow.
| Time Period | NEB Spill Reporting Criteria |
| 1999-Current | Release of low vapour pressure (LVP) hydrocarbons greater than 1.5m3
Release of gas or high vapour pressure (HVP) hydrocarbons
Release resulting in significant adverse effect |
| 1988-1999 | Release of oil greater than 1.5m3
Release of gas or high vapour (HVP) hydocarbons
Release resulting in the discharge of toxic substances in land or into a body of water |
| 1974-1988 | Any leak, break, fire or explosion in, or failure or malfunction of pipeline |
Itis important to note that the NEB’s definition for a pipeline spill is notlimited to the products transported in the pipeline. A spill or release is defined a “discharge, spray,spill, leak, seep, pour, emit, dump and exhaust.” That means if water isreleased from a pipeline or facility, that incident is also reported to theNEB.
Trans Mountain’s SpillHistory
Since 1961, TransMountain has reported approximately 82 spills to the NEB. Clickhere for a table of spills reported by thecompany. Some of the incidents were below the reportable threshold.
- 69.5% of Trans Mountain’s past spills have occurred at pumpstations or terminals. All of our pump stations and terminals are equipped withmonitoring and spill containment systems to provide early detection and lessenimpacts and ensure spilled volumes are contained on site. These facilities arerigorously maintained and inspected to meet NEB standards.
- The remaining 30.5% of Trans Mountain’s spills have occurred along the pipeline, with 21 incidents related to releases of crude oil from the pipeline. Of these spills, only nine exceeded the reporting threshold of 1.5 m3 — with just three of those nine occurring in the last 35 years. In all of these circumstances, Trans Mountain deployed its emergency response andspill management procedures.
Since 1956, vessels from ourWestridge Marine Terminal have been transporting petroleum products safelythrough Port Metro Vancouver without a single spill from a tanker.
Find out more aboutpipelineemergency management in Canada.
Find out more aboutregulations regardingspill cleanup in Canada.
Updated December 31, 2014.
