Kinder Morgan’s proposal to expand its oil pipeline from Alberta’s Tarsands to Burnaby will dramatically increase the number of oil tankers passing through the Salish Sea, and increase the likelihood of a spill. But if and when there is a spill, the insurance funds available - $1.34 Billion – will be far short of the estimated $10.8 Billion costs of clean up and financial impacts.
That’s the conclusion of Financial Liability for Kinder Morgan, a report that we released today with our friends at Living Oceans, Georgia Strait Alliance and the Wilderness Committee. You can read a backgrounder here, the full report here or our press release here. We won’t repeat the details of the structures that limit liability for an oil spill, but the graph below says it all (the “Washington Projection” refers to that estimate of $10.8 Billion to pay for the harm caused by a catastrophic spill).
