Water contamination news:

Pipeline spill sends 22,000 barrels of oil mix into Alberta muskeg

NATHAN VANDERKLIPPE, Globe and Mail, May. 30, 2012

Aerial view of part of the Rainbow Lake oil spill, May 2012.

A huge pipeline spill has released 22,000 barrels of oil and water into muskeg in the far northwest of Alberta.

The spill ranks among the largest in North America in recent years, a period that has seen a series of high-profile accidents that have undermined the energy industry’s safety record. The Enbridge Inc. pipeline rupture that leaked oil near Michigan’s Kalamazoo River, for example, spilled an estimated 19,500 barrels.

The most recent spill was discovered May 19 emanating from a pipeline belonging to Pace Oil & Gas Ltd. (PCE-T3.49-0.08-2.24%), a small energy company that produces about 15,000 barrels a day, roughly half of that oil.

The spill has yet to be contained, although “we’re very close,” Pace chief executive Fred Woods said in an interview Wednesday.

The spill took place roughly 20 kilometres southeast of Rainbow Lake, which is 165 km south of the Northwest Territories border. It came from a pipeline used for water injection, carrying an emulsion that was roughly 70 per cent water and 30 per cent oil.

As with many recent pipeline accidents, Calgary-based Pace did not detect a problem, but was informed of the leak by another company after the spill was spotted from an aircraft. The spill, which killed one duck, now covers 4.3 hectares. Mr. Woods declined comment on how long it was leaking before detection.

The company is now setting up a 50-person camp near the spill site, and has hired contract workers to clean it up. By Monday, it had recovered some 3,700 barrels of emulsion. It’s unclear how long it will take to clean up. Alberta’s Environmental Resources Conservation Board is investigating the spill.

Another section of the Rainbow Lake oil spill, May 2012.

The province has seen a spate of recent leaks. Last year, for example, the 220,000 barrel-a-day Rainbow pipeline belonging to Plains All America Pipeline L.P., spilled 28,000 barrels in northern Alberta.

The province has also seen a series of accidents on smaller gathering and distribution pipelines, which are typically run by oil and gas companies and may not receive the safety scrutiny applied to longer-haul pipes such as Rainbow. On May 8, a farmer discovered a spill of a very light oil, called condensate, in a field in central Alberta. That oil had leaked from an AltaGas Ltd. pipe delivering raw natural gas to a processing plant.

Last June, 500 barrels of oily product spilled from a pipe gathering system run by Pengrowth Energy Corp.

The water injection well connected to the leaking Pace pipe was used to dispose of waste.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/pipeline-spill-sends-22000-barrels-of-oil-mix-into-alberta-muskeg/article2447765/

Pipeline protests mar oil and gas summit

By: Alexandra Minzlaff, ctvbc.ca, May. 30, 2012

The battle between energy giant Enbridge and opponents of its planned Northern Gateway pipeline has reached a new level with protesters disrupting an oil and gas export summit and the company launching a multimillion-dollar ad campaign.

The Occupy Vancouver Environmental Justice Group rallied environmentalists and concerned citizens Wednesday outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver, where Enbridge was meeting with several other oil companies.

Equipped with signs and banners, the movement loudly voiced its opposition towards new tar sands pipeline and tanker projects, such as the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline running from the Alberta oil sands to Kitimat, B.C.

“When they’re in a building like this, they’re hiding,” Stephen Collis, speaker for the protest movement, told CTV News. “They can try to keep it out of sight, out of mind, until they bring out their glitzy show in the newspaper or a TV commercial.” read more

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