Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources (41st Parliament, 1st Session)

Past Session:

Past Session:

Recommendations

General

That the National Energy Board and Transport Canada create a web portal that includes interactive maps indicating detailed information on spills and incidents for pipelines, tankers and railcars, such as the types of product released and, as soon as possible, the cause of the incident.

Pipelines

That the National Energy Board work in partnership with regulated companies and experts in safety culture to develop a program for the mandatory auditing of safety culture.

That the federal government facilitate efforts to establish a national access point for information on the location of buried infrastructure, as well as the promotion of one-call centres and call-before-you-dig initiatives. Information on the coordinates of underground infrastructure should be consulted prior to any excavation activities by a third party.

Tankers

That the Transportation Safety Board expand and modernize its database to provide detailed information on ship-sourced spills, including the type of ship and the volume and type of product released.

That the current spill preparedness and response capacity of 10,000 tonnes within prescribed timeframes be adjusted upwards to fit the assessed needs of each region as determined by Transport Canada.

That the federal government provide umbrella responder immunity protection to Canadian marine response organizations for all non-ship source spills including marine spills from pipelines, trains and trucks.

That the Canadian Coast Guard’s mandated spill preparedness and response capabilities be certified by Transport Canada or an arm’s-length agency periodically.

The committee believes that, in certain areas and under specified circumstances, certified marine response organizations should be pre-approved to use dispersant, initiate controlled burning and take other prescribed counter-measures when it yields a net environmental benefit.

Rail

That Transport Canada work in partnership with railway companies to make existing safety culture assessments mandatory within its audit program.

That the federal government initiate a major arm’s-length review of the country’s railway regulatory framework, standards and industry practices to meaningfully advance the safe transportation of dangerous goods by rail in Canada.

That Transport Canada review, in cooperation with the United States Department of Transportation, the use of CTC-111A and DOT-111 tank cars and consider accelerating the transition to the revised standard.

That Transport Canada implement all the recommendations from the December 2011 report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development related to the transport of dangerous goods by rail.

That Transport Canada apply appropriate minimum liability coverage thresholds to ensure rail companies have the financial capacity to cover damages caused by a major incident.