He reported the oil leak and, within two hours, a helicopterdispatched by a local oil company landed on his 57-acre propertynear Sundre, Alta., to fly him over the devastating scene. Mr.Johnston, who works in the oil patch, could see oil boiling up in the river at the site of a pipeline crossing. By Friday morning,the situation had worsened. Oil clotted one of the province s mostcrucial waterways and soaked nearby wetlands.
He found a dead fishcoated with oil and brought a tar-covered baby beaver to a wildliferefuge. My place is destroyed, Mr. Johnston said, as he prepared toabandon his home and later head for a hospital to be treated forexposure to the fumes. My whole life s work is gone. I vepretty well lost it all here.
Plains Midstream Canada, which operates the pipeline that was builtin 1966, shut a 10-kilometre section of its Rangeland South line.While the company is still investigating the cause and preciselocation of the spill, it estimated that 1,000 to 3,000 barrels ofcrude, or 160,000 to 480,000 litres, has leaked. About 90 workerswere erecting booms in Lake Gleniffer, some 40 kilometresdownstream, in an bid to prevent an oil slick from reaching RedDeer, Alberta s third-largest city, which draws its water from theriver. But cleanup and containment won t be easy and could take allsummer, officials said. The already engorged river could flood again as another stormsystem is in the weekend forecast.
It may be equally difficult toundo the damage to Alberta s energy industry, which has recentlysuffered a number of high-profile spills. But unlike previousincidents, this spill isn t in a remote location and it comes asthe continent is in the midst of heated debates over constructionof the Keystone XL and Northern Gateway pipelines. Alberta Premier Alison Redford, who visited the cleanup site withher Environment Minister Friday, pledged that her ProgressiveConservative government would take action if necessary dependingon the outcome of the investigation. But she was quick to defendthe industry that is the province s lifeblood.
In Alberta, this does not happen very often, and when it doeswe re able to get a handle on it quickly, she said, adding shebelieved the situation is in hand. Although bottled water was being trucked in as a precaution,Stephen Bart, vice-president of crude oil operations with PlainsMidstream Canada, reassured the public: At this point in time wedon t believe the release poses any potential threat to both waterquality and/or residents so we ll continue to monitor thatsituation. If that situation should change, we would respondaccordingly. The Energy Resources Conservation Board, an independent agency thatregulates energy in the province, is overseeing the cleanupmeasures.
While it has conducted probes into specific incidents aswell as general inquiries in the past, agency spokesman Bob Curransaid a review with respect to pipelines is not contemplated atthis point. About 400,000 kilometres of pipelines snake across Alberta bothabove and below ground, and the ERCB s most recent review of theindustry concluded that pipeline problems are on the wane. In 2010, there were 687 failures, the majority of them leaks, whichresulted in 3,416 cubic metres of spilled hydrocarbons. In mostcases, the cause was internal or external corrosion or constructiondamage. The age and construction of decades-old pipelines haveproven problematic in the past, especially since old pipe often isnot buried to the same depth as new pipe, and can be vulnerable toheavy springtime river flow.
Environmentalists and critics said this spill is the latest in aworrisome trend that should trigger an independent review. Itdoes raise a lot of questions about general pipeline safety inAlberta, said Mike Hudema of Greenpeace Canada. Chris Severson-Baker, managing director of the Pembina Institute,said a pipeline review would provide a reality check on theseverity of the problem as well as show the state of theprovince s energy infrastructure. Joe Anglin, environment critics for the opposition Wildrose Party,said while the regulations are in place to help prevent spills, theprovince is failing to provide adequate monitoring and enforcement.He called for more boots on the ground to check pipelines andwent further to call for a broader look at the problem. We mayneed a review of the ERCB, he said.
This week, the auditor in neighbouring Saskatchewan said thatprovince isn t doing enough to ensure the safety of its pipelinenetwork which is 17 times smaller than Alberta s and calledfor more inspections, tests and increased protocols to ensureregulations are followed. Plains Midstream, a subsidiary of Plains All American Pipeline LP,is the same company that saw a massive 28,000-barrel spill innorthern Alberta last year. Crews are currently cleaning up a5,000-barrel oil spill from piping attached to a well owned by PaceOil & Gas Ltd. Loretta Leonhardt, who owns property where the latest spilloccurred, said she is concerned.
We all love the oil industry inAlberta, but I think they ve been really lax on what they ve beendoing for the environment, she said. And I think it s timethey re called to task on some of this stuff. I am an expert from Furniture & Furnishings, usually analyzes all kind of industries situation, such as queen sleigh beds , sleigh king beds.
Related Articles -
queen sleigh beds, sleigh king beds,
|
