B.C.’s premier calls Enbridge’s U.S. oil pipeline spill disgraceful

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – British Columbia Premier Christy Clark says if Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB) plans to operate its planned pipeline in B.C. the way it did in Michigan where millions of litres of oil spilled, the company can “forget it.”

She says Enbridge’s reaction to the Michigan spill, as laid out in a U.S. report released Tuesday, was disgraceful, and the company should be embarrassed.

The head of the U.S. National Transportation Safe Board said Enbridge handled the situation like the Keystone Kops and allowed oil to gush into the Kalamazoo River and nearby wetlands for 17 hours before it was stopped.

Clark’s statements are the strongest yet in connection with Enbridge’s planned Northern Gateway pipeline between Alberta’s oil sands and the B.C. coast.

The premier says she still remains neutral on the pipeline proposal and wants to wait until the on-going environmental process is complete.

But Clark says Enbridge has many important questions to answer if it wants to do business in the province and her government will be involved in the National Energy Board process to ask those questions. (CHNL)