Full-scale exercise near Towner, ND, offers chance to test new equipment
It’s versatile, nimble, and adaptable – just like a first-rate response.
In recent weeks, Enbridge’s North Dakota region held a full-scale emergency response exercise on the Souris River, near Towner, N.D., with Enbridge personnel testing out a new piece of equipment – a 20-foot, custom-built Diamondback airboat with multiple terrain response capabilities.
“It comes out of Florida, and obviously was made for wetland conditions, but it can also move across the snow – and it can take you from wetland to dryland and back into the water,” says Art Haskins, Enbridge’s emergency response co-ordinator in North Dakota.
“And of particular importance to us, just like any northern region, it can also move across ice,” he adds. “So if you’ve got a body of water with open patches, while the rest is frozen over, this is the safest way to perform an ice response.”
This two-day emergency response drill, held on May 5 and 6, drew more than 150 Enbridge personnel and contractors from multiple regions across North America. Local and regional emergency response organizations, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the North Dakota Department of Health, and North Dakota Game and Fish also took part.
Media coverage included a report from NBC affiliate KMOT in Minot, N.D., and an article written by Forum News Service.
“It was reassuring to see how well-trained and ready Enbridge is if something would happen,” Mountrail County emergency manager Don Longmuir told Forum News Service.
The event offered an opportunity to test Enbridge’s new equipment to assist in response efforts, including the Diamondback and a skimmer with a grooved drum that boosts oil recovery rates – and it also represented the culmination of years’ worth of training, says Haskins.
“We built up to this event,” he says, “with a number of equipment deployment events, Incident Command System management training sessions, and tabletop exercises.”
While we focus heavily on prevention at Enbridge, we also have comprehensive emergency response and preparedness plans in place to respond safely, rapidly, and effectively in the unlikely event of an incident.
From 2012 through 2014, we held 1,230 exercises, simulations, drills, and equipment deployment events across our North American enterprise – including 371 in 2014 – to test and hone our readiness. In that same time frame, we also invested more than $74 million in equipment and training to improve our overall readiness response capacity.
During last week’s drill on the Souris River, crews responded to a simulated emergency based on a third-party contractor striking Enbridge’s Line 81 – which travels from Minot, N.D., to Clearbrook, Minn. Field duties included:
- equipment deployment at multiple locations on water;
- public notification;
- dispatch of an air monitoring team;
- protection of water intakes and public parks;
- shoreline cleanup assessment;
- educating first responders on pipeline emergencies;
- measurement of response times; and
- a wildlife recovery exercise co-ordinated by Enbridge’s environment team.
Elected officials, pipeline agencies, and media representatives across Enbridge’s North Dakota region were invited to the drill. North Dakota state representatives Larry Bellow, Bob Hunskor, and Randy Burckhard were in attendance, as were Brian Kalk and Julie Fedorchak, two of the state’s Public Service Commissioners.
