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UPDATED: Trans Mountain pipeline back in action after oil spill north of Kamloops

Environment ministry says that cleanup is underway
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One hundred litres of crude oil spilled from a Trans Mountain station north of Kamloops Sunday morning.

According to the environment ministry, the 100 litre spill came from a flow metre at about 5 a.m. and was contained to the station site.

The spill did not leak into any waterways, including the nearby North Thompson River, a spokesperson confirmed.

In a statement, Kinder Morgan said that crews were on site to cleanup “medium crude blend” that had spilled from “station piping.”

The Trans Mountain pipeline was shut down for much of Sunday but reopened at 3:20 p.m.

A woman living near the station said that a Kinder Morgan representative came by to tell her about the spill Sunday morning and told her that cleanup would likely take 10 days.

The spill comes less than a week before the company’s self-imposed deadline to make a final decision on the Trans Mountain expansion.

Kinder Morgan, which stopped all ‘non-essential’ work on the project in April, had said it would speak with stakeholders before making a final decision on May 31.

Since then, the federal government – which has backed the expansion – said it would indemnify the $7.4 billion project if Kinder Morgan pulled out.

Seeking to put pressure on Premier John Horgan, who opposes the pipeline, Alberta passed a bill earlier this month that would allow it to turn off the oil tap to B.C.

Horgan’s government has since sued Alberta to stop the bill.


@katslepian

katya.slepian@bpdigital.ca

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