So much we don't know': why experts are warning against a new pipeline in British Columbia

"When an earthquake in 2002 struck in a remote pocket of Alaska, the shock was the strongest ever recorded in the interior of the state. But, miraculously, an oil pipeline that crossed directly over the fault line was unscathed. Engineers behind the design of the 800 mile system were prepared. Knowing the high likelihood of seismic activity along the route, which bisected the Denali fault, they constructed sections where the pipeline rested on rail girders, allowing it to sway and shear without snapping."

"There's never been a study as detailed as they one they did for the pipeline in Alaska and as a result, there's just so much we don't know. The Trans Alaska pipeline constructed with extra-long support beams shows where it crosses over the Denali fault."

An Alaska pipeline survived a major 2002 interior earthquake because designers built sections on rail girders and extra-long support beams over the Denali fault, allowing movement without rupture. Canada does not have similarly detailed, pinpointed seismic studies for the most efficient proposed route from Edmonton through the Rocky Mountain trench and northern British Columbia to the Douglas Channel. Geological hazards in fjord-cut, crenulated shoreline and trench terrain are substantial and poorly understood. No company has officially proposed a route or begun construction planning. The project faces strong First Nations opposition and concerns about lifting a long-standing oil tanker ban. Experts warn that lack of precise fault mapping increases pipeline risk.

Read at www.theguardian.com