What does a 4.5-million-litre oil spill in northern Alberta have to do with Westlock? As it turns out, there is a direct connection.
The very same pipeline that leaked the oil near Little Buffalo passes near the communities of Fawcett and Jarvie before crossing highways 18 and 2 before leaving the county to the southeast.
A spokesperson for Plains Midstream, the company that operates the pipeline, said on Friday that the leak in northern Alberta was an isolated incident, as opposed to being a reflection of a systemic problem with the pipeline that is nearly five decades old.
“It appears the contributing factor is improper packing of dirt following a dig inspection several years ago,” said Roy Lamoreaux. “We do know that it was not internal corrosion or stress-corrosion cracking.”
As far as whether anything similar could happen near Westlock, he was non-committal.
“We see this as an isolated incident,” he said. “Clearly no one can be 100 per cent certain. We’re investigating the other digs in the past and we’ll see if anything comes of that. There’s no tool one can run to detect that.”
The Rainbow pipeline was built in 1966, and runs from Zama in the northwestern corner of the province to Edmonton. It passes through Westlock County near Fawcett and Jarvie, before crossing highways 18 and 2 in the southeastern portion of the county.
In 2006, the pipeline leaked about one million litres of oil into a creek near Slave Lake, but Lamoreaux said the two incidents are unrelated.
“I’m not well versed in the 2006 spill. My understanding is that the set of circumstances was quite different,” he said.
The provincial regulator at the time, the Alberta Energy Utilities Board (EUB), found that the cause of the spill was corrosion and cracking.
“The EUB investigation has concluded that stress corrosion cracking, fatigue cracking and external coating failure caused the release,” a news release dated May 9, 2007 says.
The Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) now has the role of provincial regulator, and Davis Sheremata, their spokesperson, said the regulator is doing everything it can to ensure the pipeline’s safety.
The ERCB inspected the pipeline near Little Buffalo in 2009, and didn’t find any issues, he said. The portion of the pipeline in Westlock County has been inspected earlier this year.
“We’re just processing the data now; we have not found any issues yet,” he said.
As far as who will bear the responsibility for the error that caused the recent leak, Lamoreaux said Plains Midstream will bear the cost, but added it’s too soon to say if any individuals will be considered responsible.
“Our focus has been on containing the spill, mitigating the impact and ensuring that we’re doing the right thing,” he said.
One former resident of Little Buffalo, however, does not believe the company has acted in the community’s best interest. Melina Laboucan-Massimo is a member of the Lubicon Cree First Nation and is also a Greenpeace activist.
“It’s very saddening to us as community members,” she said. “My family is here day in and day out, and has to be exposed to the noxious odours that are making them sick … and the government says it’s a non-issue. How can peoples’ health be a non-issue?”
She added that the risk in Westlock might be higher than the company or regulator has stated.
Oil is a corrosive material, the pipeline is 45 years old and this recent spill is the second large spill on the same pipeline within five years.
“It shows that they’re using a very old pipeline, and it should be shut down,” she said. “As we know spills can never be predicted, and this is the second one in five years for the same pipeline.”
