At Kinder Morgan Canada Limited (KML), we are committed to the safety of the communities where our pipeline systems operate. As part of our robust Emergency Management Program, we have detailed emergency response plans in place for the unlikely event of an emergency. In May, we participated in an emergency response exercise in Bellingham, Washington to practice our Puget Sound emergency response plan. The exercise involved approximately 130 participants, including representatives from multiple agencies in Canada and the United States.
The event occurred over two days – a training session for participants took place the first day with the exercise occurring the next day. During the exercise component, participants simulated an international response to a hypothetical oil spill in the Sumas River, a water body that traverses the US/Canada border. Participants used the Incident Command System (ICS) to respond to the simulated oil spill. In addition to KMC responders and response contractors, the exercise incorporated agency responders from Washington State Department of Ecology, Washington Fish and Wildlife, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Whatcom County, the City of Abbotsford, British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Environment and Climate Change Canada, the National Energy Board, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Canadian Border Services Agency and the Makah Tribe.
The exercise was a positive and informative experience and provided our staff and contractors with a valuable opportunity to demonstrate our ability to respond to an emergency along our Puget Sound Pipeline system in a timely and effective manner.
Emergency response exercises are important not only to practice our emergency response plans, but also to work closely with external stakeholder groups who would typically be involved with response efforts. “This exercise was always about more than implementing ICS. It brought response agencies from the United States and Canada together to determine how an international incident could be managed in this region. It was an important relationship-building event that allowed for international collaboration,” said Kelly Malinoski, Manager, Emergency Management.
Click here to learn more about our Emergency Management Program.
Click here to learn more about the emergency response training we conducted with equipment on the Sumas River in 2016.
