The Canadian province of Alberta, the scene of perhaps the greatest rape of the Earth in modern times, has suffered its third oil spill in a month. Over a thousand barrels spilled from a pumping station onto farmland near Elk Point, a small farming community northeast of Edmonton. The Athabasca pipeline, owned by Enbridge, Inc., connects the tar sands with Hardisty, Canada's most important oil hub. Crews were still working to clean up two other large leaks: one from a well about 200 kms from the Northern Territories border and another from ruptured pipeline beneath the Red Deer River. In 2010 the province averaged nearly two pipeline failures a day; despite that performance Canada's regulator, Energy Resources Conservation Board, said Alberta has a "fairly strong safety record". The provincial premier, Allison Redford, under public pressure for more oversight, has reluctantly asked for a review of whether a better provincial response is needed to spills. She is a staunch supporter of Alberta's energy policies as it seeks markets for its ecologically harmful fossil fuel products beyond Canada's borders. Part of the plan is to pump bitumen south across the international border to Gulf Coast refineries for refining and export. Forty percent of Alberta's pipeline was installed before 1990. Saskatchewan, the province next door, was handed an official audit on Thursday that concluded it does not do enough to police pipelines criss-crossing that province. In the meantime, the conservation group, Greenpeace, was denied space on an Edmonton billboard for an oil spill ad without explanation [image].
Monday, June 25, 2012
Alberta is All Greasy
The Canadian province of Alberta, the scene of perhaps the greatest rape of the Earth in modern times, has suffered its third oil spill in a month. Over a thousand barrels spilled from a pumping station onto farmland near Elk Point, a small farming community northeast of Edmonton. The Athabasca pipeline, owned by Enbridge, Inc., connects the tar sands with Hardisty, Canada's most important oil hub. Crews were still working to clean up two other large leaks: one from a well about 200 kms from the Northern Territories border and another from ruptured pipeline beneath the Red Deer River. In 2010 the province averaged nearly two pipeline failures a day; despite that performance Canada's regulator, Energy Resources Conservation Board, said Alberta has a "fairly strong safety record". The provincial premier, Allison Redford, under public pressure for more oversight, has reluctantly asked for a review of whether a better provincial response is needed to spills. She is a staunch supporter of Alberta's energy policies as it seeks markets for its ecologically harmful fossil fuel products beyond Canada's borders. Part of the plan is to pump bitumen south across the international border to Gulf Coast refineries for refining and export. Forty percent of Alberta's pipeline was installed before 1990. Saskatchewan, the province next door, was handed an official audit on Thursday that concluded it does not do enough to police pipelines criss-crossing that province. In the meantime, the conservation group, Greenpeace, was denied space on an Edmonton billboard for an oil spill ad without explanation [image].