The National Energy Board (NEB) has released its evaluation of Kinder Morgan Canada’s (KMC) Westridge Marine Facility Emergency Response Exercise, which was conducted on October 29, 2015. KMC is required by the National Energy Board (NEB) to have an Emergency Management Program, which includes emergency response exercises and training.

The NEB’s report concludes that KMC remained in compliance with NEB regulatory requirements for emergency preparedness and response and no corrective actions are required. This is the first time the NEB has posted an exercise evaluation online. A complete copy of the NEB’s report can be found on their website here.

During the exercise, NEB technical staff and leadership provided oversight and evaluation based on comprehensive criteria and includes: public and worker safety; environmental protection; public notification and reporting; tactical response and evaluation of security threats.

“Exercises like these demonstrate our industry-leading practices for incident prevention, response and recovery,” said Michael Davies, Senior Director, KMC. “As part of our ongoing operations, we use these exercises to test our plan and maintain effective working relationships with agencies that cooperate together in a response. This ensures we and the communities we operate in are prepared.”

The exercise brought together local, provincial and federal agencies that would be involved in an actual emergency scenario. NEB emergency response and technical staff assess and evaluate emergency response exercises on NEB-regulated pipelines and companies are accountable to respond effectively to any pipeline incident with the highest regard to public safety and environmental protection.

“On an annual basis, the NEB conducts thorough evaluations of emergency response exercises and it’s important for Canadians to see the details of those exercises and how their national energy regulator is verifying that NEB-regulated companies are prepared to respond in case of an emergency,” said Peter Watson Chair and CEO of the National Energy Board.

Each year, KMC conducts approximately 20 emergency management training/exercise sessions which include equipment river deployments, Incident Command system training table-top and communication exercises – one or two of which are full-scale like the Westridge Exercise. As part of KMC’s ongoing operations, these exercises are used to test our plan and train and practice together with agencies and first responders that would be involved in an incident to ensure the communities KMC operates in are prepared.