TORONTO, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- As Canadian pipeline company Enbridge presses for an oil pipeline overhaul, a defender said the company is on task to respond to any disasters.
Enbridge aims to reverse the flow of oil from its 397-mile Line 9 oil pipeline and boost its capacity by 25 percent to 300,000 barrels per day. The company said the reversal would meet the demands for crude oil from the west of the country from sources in Ontario and Quebec.
A report prepared for environmental groups questioned the company's readiness to respond to any incidents on the future line. They point to 20,000 barrel spill from the company's Line 6B system in Michigan in 2010 as cause for concern.
Douglas Crowther, a lawyer representing Enbridge before the National Energy Board, said the report was off the mark.
"It is completely unhelpful to this [review] process and most especially because it has no basis in fact," he was quoted Monday by the Toronto Star as saying.
Part of Line 9 runs through watersheds for Lake Ontario.
Four days of public hearings before the NEB begin Wednesday in Toronto.
