Pioneer Park scene for oil spill exercise

NEWS — Kinder Morgan Canada will hold a drill in Pioneer Park on Wednesday to test emergency response to a possible spill from the Trans Mountain pipeline.

The exercise, a regularly scheduled part of the company’s safety and emergency preparedness, takes place between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Representatives of government agencies, First Nations communities and utilities, as well as local emergency responders, will be on hand.

No oil will be released during the exercise, but heavy equipment and three Kinder Morgan boats will be using the park, the company said in a media release on Monday.

Kinder Morgan held a similar exercise last year at Nicola Lake between Merritt and Kamloops.

In Pioneer Park, they’ll be conducting land-based instruction on spill response equipment setup and deployment, followed by a river deployment of emergency response equipment that includes 228 metres of containment boom.

Last year, the company held 15 emergency response exercises, said external relations director Andy Galarnyk. The NEB’s required minimum is one such drill per year on the 1,150-km Trans Mountain pipeline. Instead, the company does a minimum of one in each of five districts, Galarnyk noted.

The pipeline crosses the Thompson River at Mission Flats. Pioneer Park provides a good location at which to practice a variety of response techniques, Galarnyk said.