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Ottawa Region Expert report TRANSCANADA ENERGY EAST PIPELINE Spill impacts on the territory of Ottawa region GEO-16-004-16- 32 September 2016 Expert report TRANSCANADA ENERGY EAST PIPELINE Spill impacts on the territory of Ottawa region GEO-16-004-16-32 September 2016 Report prepared by: Abdelkader Aiachi, Ph.D. Project manager, Geosciences Report approved by: Chantal Savaria, ing., EESA, VEA Table of contents 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 2. Features of transported products ....................................................................................... 2 2.1 Products nature ............................................................................................................................ 2 2.2 Oil products behaviour in water ................................................................................................... 2 2.3 Oil products behaviour in ice ........................................................................................................ 3 2.4 Quantity of transported products.................................................................................................. 4 2.5 Spill of crude oil (examples) ......................................................................................................... 5 2.5.1 Example of crude oil spill in the North Saskatchewan River ............................................................ 5 2.5.2 Example of crude oil spill in the Kalamazoo River, Michigan (United States) .................................. 6 3. Spill impacts in two watercourses of the Ottawa Region: Rideau River and Mississippi River ...................................................................................................................................... 7 3.1 Estimation of the quantity spilled ................................................................................................. 9 3.1.1 Scenario 1 • Reaction time of 13 min according to TransCanada ..................................................12 3.1.2 Scenario 2 • Reaction time of 120 min ............................................................................................12 3.2 Rideau river ................................................................................................................................ 13 3.2.1 Current state of the river .................................................................................................................13 3.2.2 Hydrological and hydrographic data ...............................................................................................13 3.2.3 Maximal downstream propagation distance of the contamination plume ........................................14 3.2.4 Environmental impacts ...................................................................................................................14 3.3 Mississippi River ........................................................................................................................ 16 3.3.1 Current state of the river .................................................................................................................16 3.3.2 Hydrological and hydrographic data ...............................................................................................16 3.3.3 Maximal downstream propagation distance of the contamination plume ........................................16 3.3.4 Environmental impacts ...................................................................................................................18 4. Mitigation measures in the case of a spill in both watercourses .................................... 19 4.1 Mitigation measures ................................................................................................................... 19 4.1.1 Product containment and recuperation ...........................................................................................19 4.1.2 Banks and shores cleaning ............................................................................................................19 4.1.3 Rehabilitation cost ..........................................................................................................................19 5. Spill impacts in wetlands and underground watersin the Ottawa Region .................... 20 5.1 Spill impact in wetlands .............................................................................................................. 20 5.2 Spill impact on groundwater....................................................................................................... 22 6. Assessments ...................................................................................................................... 23 6.1 Rideau River .............................................................................................................................. 23 6.2 Mississippi River ........................................................................................................................ 23 6.3 Wetlands and underground waters ............................................................................................ 24 6.3.1 Wetlands ........................................................................................................................................24 6.3.2 Underground waters .......................................................................................................................24 7. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................... 25 8. Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 26 i List of tables Table 1. Spill by pipeline in North America between 2006 and 2016 .................................................... 10 Table 2. Volumes spilled – Scenario 1 .................................................................................................. 12 Table 3. Volumes spilled – Scenario 2 .................................................................................................. 12 Table 4. Total annual discharge and peak flow ..................................................................................... 13 Table 5. Plume propagation distance for a given travel time ................................................................ 14 Table 6. Plume propagation distance for a given travel time ................................................................ 16 List of figures Figure 1. Map of surface waters and wetlands ......................................................................................... 8 Figure 2. Map of the estimated plume propagation of the spill in the Rideau River and Rideau Canal . 15 Figure 3. Map of the estimated plume propagation of the spill in the Mississippi River ......................... 17 Figure 4. Location of drinking water intakes from private wells in the Ottawa and Grenville area ......... 21 ii TransCanada Energy East pipeline Spill impacts on the territory of Ottawa region 1. Introduction TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline project (hereinafter Energy East project) is a pipeline project of 4500 kilometers, which will transport approximately 1,1 million barrels of oil a day (174 million liters) from Alberta and Saskatchewan to refineries located in the east of Canada and to a shipping terminal in New Brunswick. The project includes the construction of approximately 1520 kilometers of new pipes and linked installations, namely laterals, pipeline connections, tank terminal and a shipping terminal in New Brunswick. The starting point is planned to be a new tank terminal, at Hardisty in Alberta. Two other terminals will be built along the pipeline route, the first one in Saskatchewan and the second one, in the Saint-John area, in New Brunswick. The project also includes the conversion of approximately 3000 kilometers of existing natural gas pipeline owned by TransCanada to an oil transportation pipeline which will be yielded to Energy East. In order to support the Council of Canadians and Ecology Ottawa works and reflections regarding the new TransCanada pipeline proposal, a mandate has been given to Savaria Experts-Conseils inc, to evaluate the impacts of petroleum hydrocarbons spill in the main watercourses in the Ottawa Region. Results from this evaluation are presented in this technical report. The report includes impact descriptions of a spill in the two main watercourses of the territory of Ottawa Region, namely the Rideau River and the Mississippi River. In order to evaluate the impacts, the quantity of spilled products, as well as features of watercourses (hydrographic data, sediment features, flood plain, etc.) have been taken into consideration. GEO-16-004-16-32 Rapport d’expertise 1 TransCanada Energy East pipeline Spill impacts on the territory of Ottawa Region 2. Features of transported products 2.1 Products nature Three types of crude oils will be transported through the Energy East project: conventional light crude oil, synthetic crude oil and diluted bitumen. Conventional light crude oil (Bakken crude oil) can be distinguished by its high proportion of light hydrocarbons and its weak content in heavy components. It is the lightest crude oil that can be transported by the Energy East project (its 42.1° API gravity is very high, which demonstrates that it floats on water). Synthetic crude oil can be
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