Alberta oil spills, blowouts double in past year

Alberta oil spills, blowouts double in past year by Darcy Henton, August 6, 2007, The Edmonton Journal
The Energy and Utilities Board says there were 45 incidents of uncontrollable emission of oil or gas in 2006, more than double the norm of about 20 annually and 30 per cent more than there were in 2005. “It’s something that we’re looking at very closely,” said EUB spokesman Darin Barter. “If there are areas of weakness in our regulations, we need to determine that. Or is it an anomaly? That’s what we’re assessing now. “We’re very concerned about that number.” … There were also nearly 100 more spills in 2006 than the previous year, including a massive crude oil spill near Slave Lake that was originally reported as being about 1,260 barrels or 200,000 litres. But an EUB investigation report filed last spring revealed the spill was actually more than six times as big, spilling nearly 1.3 million litres of oil. CN’s spill at Wabamun has been estimated at about 800,000 litres. Barter said the oilpatch regulator was not deliberately trying to downplay the size of the spill. … But oilpatch critics expressed concern about the rising numbers of spills and blowouts, warning that the trend, if it continues, could lead to disaster.

This entry was posted in Case News. Bookmark the permalink.