Spill at Trans Mountain station larger than B.C. government first reported

Jun 10, 2018 | 10:52 AM

KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Officials say a spill from Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline two weeks ago was 48 times larger than initially reported.

The B.C. Ministry of Environment says the spill volume reported from the company’s Darfield station north of Kamloops on May 27 has been revised to 4,800 litres from 100 litres.

It says 100 litres is the minimum threshold under the company’s spill reporting obligations, so that’s why the ministry estimated 100 litres at the time.

Trans Mountain spokeswoman Ali Hounsell says the company never provided an estimate of how much medium crude oil escaped, other than to confirm with regulators that it was over the reportable threshold.