I came home today from work and turned on the TV to catch some local news, I hadn’t turned on the volume yet but saw images of cars covered in shiny black. I thought they were showing some car show, turned the volume on to find out that there was a major oil rupture in an urban area (Inlet Drive and Ridge Drive, near the intersection of Barnet Highway and Hastings Street).
A construction crew accidentally ruptured an oil pipeline in a residential area of Burnaby earlier this afternoon. The rupture sent a geyser of crude oil approximately 30 metres into the air, sending a spray of the black substance all over surrounding vehicles and homes. Apparently the geyser sprayed unabated for almost 30 minutes before it was plugged. Local authorities had to evacuate many residences and those closest to the rupture have not been given the green light to return home as the clean-up continues.
The biggest concern is the environmental impact as the oil covers the surrounding trees and seeps into the soil. The oil has already trickled its way into the Burrard Inlet and may now affect the marine habitat. The construction crew blame that they were given inaccurate maps, the company that owns the pipeline (Kinder Morgan Canada) state that the maps provided were accurate.
Expect a LOT of finger-pointing as authorities try to figure out who was ultimately responsible for this accident.
Barnet Highway from St. John to Hastings is closed until further notice, so make alternate travel plans if you take this route like my friend Stephen Fung 
Photos courtesy of Richard Lam (CP)
Posted on July 24th, 2007 by Leo
Filed under: Lucid Thoughts, Shooting Gallery
It’s actually been a bit of a blessing. It’s much quieter around my house without all the traffic from the Barnet. I think the owner of the Civic should keep that colour. It doesn’t look half bad!
Indeed, the all-black look doesn’t look too bad on that car
This is odd timing given my article on BP’s pollution due to refining crude oil from Canada. Stephen’s right that the Civic does look kind of nice with that gloss black finish over everything. Although I guess that is kind of like putting makeup on a turd, it’s still a turd even though it looks better.
I heard about it on the news, and I almost crashed changing lanes when I had to change lanes suddenly.
It’s a good thing the accident happened at a relatively slow time, imagine if it occurred during peak hours. Also, it’s good that it was a dry, sunny day. The rain would have made everything much slicker.
Yikes that can’t be good for the environment.
Yeah, the cost of the clean-up and the impact to the environment is still being tallied.
Cool paint job! The best part of all, free!