The oil spill on Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline Wednesday evening near Merritt may be one of the smallest recorded in the line’s 60-year history, but it has triggered a seismic public reaction.

Where spills of a few barrels might once have generated a public yawn, this one, initially reported by the company at a mere 12 barrels, has set the Twitterverse and Facebook on fire and prompted angry “I told you so’s” from environmentalists and First Nations.

It also comes a day before Premier Christy Clark and Alberta Premier Alison Redford meet to discuss, among other things, two pipeline proposals, one of which B.C. now officially opposes.

The visceral public reaction to the pipeline leak surprises neither Nathan Lemphers, a senior policy analyst with Calgary-based Pembina Institute, a Calgary-based energy and environmental policy think-tank, nor Barry Penner, B.C.’s former environment minister. Both say recent high-profile oil spills have made the public skeptical about Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline and Kinder Morgan’s plan to twin its Edmonton-Vancouver line.

“I think when it comes to public opinion now, any spill is one spill too many,” Lemphers said. “The kind of conduct that took place years ago is no longer acceptable because people are much more aware, especially in B.C. where you have two major oil pipeline proposals.”

Penner, now a senior counsel with Vancouver law firm Davis LLP, which is representing a First Nations band whose traditional territory includes the leak site, said the spill comes at exactly the wrong time for proponents of pipeline expansion.

“The size of the spill — based on what we know — appears not to be large but the timing is very significant,” he said. “Issues to do with pipelines are front and centre and much of the concern expressed deals with whether they are considered safe. And with Premiers Clark and Redford due to discuss this (today), this isn’t exactly good timing.”

Lemphers believes that any spill of any size is going to continue to trigger negative public reactions simply because people are unwilling to simply accept stated assurances that everything’s fine.

“We are in a time where people expect access to spill information on a much faster basis and they have higher expectations,” he said.

The spill, which is being investigated by the National Energy Board, the Transportation Safety Board and Kinder Morgan itself, occurred along the mountainous section of the line between Hope and Kamloops. A maintenance crew following up on routine inspections that indicated there might be a problem discovered a small underground leak near the Kingsvale pumping station 20 kilometres south of Merritt.

The company immediately shut down the line, according to Kinder Morgan spokesman Andy Galarnyk. Repairs are underway and the line could be put back into service within days once the NEB gives its approval.

Galarnyk said that while the leak is small in nature, the company recognizes public sentiment about spills has changed -- especially in light of BP’s Gulf of Mexico spill and Enbridge’s spill into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan.