A small oil spill on a section of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline from Edmonton, Alberta to Burnaby, B.C. is being used by environmental groups to raise larger concerns about the company's plan to twin the line.

“This spill is yet another reminder of just how dangerous these pipelines are to British Columbians and our quality of life,” said Eoin Madden, climate change campaigner with the Wilderness Committee.

“Kinder Morgan and the federal government have been ignoring the clear message emerging from this part of the world: British Columbians don’t want tar sands pipelines and tankers on their lands and in their waters.”

Kinder Morgan Canada responded to a crude oil spill southwest of Merritt B.C., on June 12.

“While performing regular maintenance on its Trans Mountain Pipeline, the company detected a small amount of light crude oil on the surface of its right of way in a remote area near Kingsvale B.C.,” said a press release.

“The company immediately shut down the pipeline and stopped the flow of oil through the line.”

According to Kinder Morgan, workers were on site immediately and began the investigation into the incident.

The company notified regulators, area First Nations and neighbours after the oil spill was discovered, and then initiated a clean-up response.

Repair work on the line began on June 13.

At the time, the company reported it was a small spill with a volume less than two cubic meters (12 barrels).

Despite this, environmentalists view the spill as another example of what could threaten the B.C. coast if Kinder Morgan is granted approval to expand their pipeline.

“Today’s accident near Merritt shows that B.C. is not immune to potentially disastrous oil spills,” said Sierra Club B.C. interim executive director Sarah Cox.

“It’s proof positive that we need to reject Kinder Morgan’s proposal to build a second pipeline in order to ship tar sands bitumen past Victoria and the Gulf Islands.”

Kinder Morgan workers completed repairs on June 14 and reported that the source of the spill was a small defect, which was detected by a pipeline integrity program.

The contaminated soil was removed and Kinder Morgan revised its estimate of the total volume of oil released to less than one cubic metre (less than 6 barrels).

The company said the spill was fully contained and there is was no impact to any water course and no threat to the public. It is undertaking site remediation to ensure that the surrounding area is restored to its previous condition.

A restart of the pipeline was expected by midday on June 14.

Last month, Trans Mountain submitted a project description to the NEB, which proposes to expand the existing pipeline system to 890,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) from 300,000 bbl/d.

The proposed $5.4 billion expansion involves the construction of three new 36 inch pipeline segments that are a total length of about 973 km and reactivating two 24 inch buried pipeline segments that have been maintained in a deactivated state.

This will result in two parallel pipelines when connected to new and modified facilities, such as 11 pump stations and 21 storage tanks at the Edmonton, Kamloops, Burnaby and Sumas terminals.

In addition, the existing tanker dock at the Westridge Marine Terminal will be removed and two new loading docks constructed.

Trans Mountain began an engagement process with Aboriginal peoples, landowners, municipalities and stakeholders in 2012.

Despite these efforts, the project faces strong opposition from First Nations and environmental groups.

Due to the level of public interest in the proposed project, Trans Mountain is requesting that it be a designated project, and subject to environmental review under both the NEB Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) 2012.

Since the proposed project is an expansion of the existing pipeline system, it is not clear to Trans Mountain if the project would be a designated project under the CEAA 2012.