Red Deer River oil spill highlights dangers of pipelines crossing waterways
News Release - June 8, 2012
VANCOUVER – As Canadians continue to debate two major oil pipeline proposals to the Pacific coast, a pipeline leak spewing up to 3,000 barrels of crude into the Red Deer River calls attention to the serious hazards of transporting oil across key waterways.
“In the midst of such controversial public processes involving pipelines and tankers, here we are with yet another oil spill,” said Ben West, Healthy Communities campaigner with the Wilderness Committee.
“Citizens and policymakers should be looking at incidents like these and thinking hard about the potential impacts of new projects, like the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline and Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion. We need to stop these pipeline projects today before we have a similar spill or something even worse here in BC,” said West.
This incident is just the latest in a series of spills and leakages that have occurred over the past several months, including a 5,000-barrel spill reported in late May near Rainbow Lake, Alberta.
Authorities in Alberta are particularly concerned over this week’s spill, as heavy rains and flooding are causing the leaked oil to flow downstream at an increased and dangerous rate. Since the leak was reported on Thursday evening, residents along the Red Deer River have already reported noxious smells and sightings of dead wildlife.
The company responsible for the ruptured pipeline, Plains Midstream Canada, had another pipeline burst in April 2011—spilling up to 28,000 barrels in northern Alberta and causing one of the largest oil spills in the province’s history.
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For more information contact:
Ben West, Wilderness Committee, Healthy Communities Campaigner: 604-710-5340
