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22,000 barrels of oil spilled from northwestern Alberta oil well


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The Canadian Press May 31, 2012

RAINBOW LAKE, Alta. — Regulators and environmental officials are investigating the cause and repercussions of a serious oil spill in northwestern Alberta.

The Energy Resources Conservation Board says 22,000 barrels of oil and salt water have leaked into muskeg about 20 kilometres southeast of the community of Rainbow Lake.

ERCB spokesman Darin Barter says the oil well owned by Calgary-based Pace Oil and Gas has been shut down and crews are working to contain and clean up the spill.

Barter says the spill was first noticed by someone in an aircraft flying over the remote site earlier this month.

He says the oil and salt water is not near any lakes or rivers and no people live close to the area.

It's not immediately clear if the company will face any environmental or wildlife charges.

© Copyright © The Ottawa Citizen

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Well....I guess the price at the pump will be up this summer....as if they needed an excuse to do so....

"This is the second major oil spill in Alberta in a year. Last year, the Rainbow pipeline, owned by Plains All American Pipeline, spilled 28,000 barrels of oil into northern Alberta’s forests.

Also last year, Alberta-based Enbridge struggled with an oil leak from a pipeline in Michigan, after a two-vehicle collision damaged an above-ground portion of the pipe.

Regulators told the Herald that spills like the one at Rainbow Lake are infrequent, despite the large volume of oil that moves out of the province every day.

"These types of spills are rare," Darin Barter of Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board told the Herald."

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/05/30/rainbow-lake-oil-spill_n_1556622.html?ref=canada-business

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I'm pretty mad about this guys, so here I am voicing my displeasure online using my computer (made using oil), in my home/office (many products made from oil) and in fact I might even drive down (using gas) to City Hall and protest!!!

Yeah everyone loves what oil gives them but real mad when spills happen/what it does to the environment.

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I'm pretty mad about this guys, so here I am voicing my displeasure online using my computer (made using oil), in my home/office (many products made from oil) and in fact I might even drive down (using gas) to City Hall and protest!!!

Yeah everyone loves what oil gives them but real mad when spills happen/what it does to the environment.

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I'm pretty mad about this guys, so here I am voicing my displeasure online using my computer (made using oil), in my home/office (many products made from oil) and in fact I might even drive down (using gas) to City Hall and protest!!!

Yeah everyone loves what oil gives them but real mad when spills happen/what it does to the environment.

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Well of course oil is essential for manufacturing many products that we use, but just because that's the case you're just going to write-off multiple spills? Gee, paper is an essential product that many people need to use, why don't we just cut all the trees down.

Bottom line, when you're producing oil in a careless manner such as this and when the government is loosening up on regulations to make sure oil companies operate in a safe manner then I'm going to complain as much as I want. I don't even want to think about the repercussions that the Enbridge pipeline will have on ecosystems in the Northern B.C when oil spills in Alberta happen so easily.

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Mercury contaminating bird eggs in oilsands region: Environment Canada

BY MIKE DE SOUZA, POSTMEDIA NEWS MAY 31, 2012

OTTAWA - Environment Canada scientists have observed evidence of toxic contamination of wildlife upstream from Alberta's natural bitumen deposits that coincides with the oilsands industry's expansion, Environment Minister Peter Kent was told last summer.

According to internal documents obtained by Postmedia News, the government was urged to investigate recent scientific observations of a 40 per cent increase of mercury in bird eggs, considered to be a key environmental indicator of contamination of the natural ecosystems.

``Environment Canada has already undertaken contaminants monitoring in wildlife and that work is continuing,'' said an internal document outlining the government's communications plan for the launch of its oilsands monitoring initiative from last July. ``We have seen an increased exposure of mercury in bird eggs which is why more research is required to evaluate trends and sources of the contamination.''

The advice, released through access to information legislation, followed peer-reviewed research, led by Environment Canada scientist Craig Hebert, that reported a 40 per cent increase of mercury levels in California gull eggs from a Lake Athabasca colony between 1977 and 2009 - a period of significant growth for the oilsands industry. Hebert's research said that ``contamination from oilsands development (was) one possibility, but other external (mercury) sources must also be considered.''

When asked about the warnings, Kent said the government had ``great concerns'' about mercury contamination in all its forms, while noting that there was conflicting research about what was happening in the region. But he indicated the new federal monitoring plan, in partnership with the Alberta government, would examine all impacts of the oilsands industry on water, air and biodiversity in the region's ecosystems.

He explained some recently announced federal cuts to scientific research on industry's environmental footprint, including the Experimental Lakes Area which allowed scientists to examine impacts of human activity on watersheds and lakes, are part of a shift of government resources toward Western Canada.

Kent noted that the research at the Experimental Lakes Area, ``greatly aided development of the acid rain treaty (with the United States) 21 years ago, but we haven't got the same sort of accumulated deep and broad data that we need from the oilsands.''

``So as part of our oilsands monitoring, a lot of our science is now going to move westward to continue that same sort of work in accumulating the same sorts of scientific data.''

The federal government estimated last summer that its new oilsands monitoring program would cost about $50 million per year, but Kent indicated, at the time,he expected the industry to cover the costs.

Kent also urged NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, who visited the oilsands on Thursday, to keep an open mind about the industry and region, and consider all factors - including the impact of natural seepage of bitumen into the Athabasca River watershed for centuries.

``Open-pit mines are not attractive in any context, anywhere in the world,'' Kent said after delivering a speech at a fish-and-wildlife conservation conference. ``But where they can be responsibly remediated, they can be responsibly developed.''

Kent said he hoped Mulcair would consider points of view from both the Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based environmental think-tank that has suggested some aspects of oilsands expansion are hurting the Canadian economy, as well as the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a think-tank that touted the benefits of expansion of Canada's oil and gas industry.http://www.canada.co...0175/story.html

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Mercury contaminating bird eggs in oilsands region: Environment Canada

BY MIKE DE SOUZA, POSTMEDIA NEWS MAY 31, 2012

OTTAWA - Environment Canada scientists have observed evidence of toxic contamination of wildlife upstream from Alberta's natural bitumen deposits that coincides with the oilsands industry's expansion, Environment Minister Peter Kent was told last summer.

According to internal documents obtained by Postmedia News, the government was urged to investigate recent scientific observations of a 40 per cent increase of mercury in bird eggs, considered to be a key environmental indicator of contamination of the natural ecosystems.

``Environment Canada has already undertaken contaminants monitoring in wildlife and that work is continuing,'' said an internal document outlining the government's communications plan for the launch of its oilsands monitoring initiative from last July. ``We have seen an increased exposure of mercury in bird eggs which is why more research is required to evaluate trends and sources of the contamination.''

The advice, released through access to information legislation, followed peer-reviewed research, led by Environment Canada scientist Craig Hebert, that reported a 40 per cent increase of mercury levels in California gull eggs from a Lake Athabasca colony between 1977 and 2009 - a period of significant growth for the oilsands industry. Hebert's research said that ``contamination from oilsands development (was) one possibility, but other external (mercury) sources must also be considered.''

When asked about the warnings, Kent said the government had ``great concerns'' about mercury contamination in all its forms, while noting that there was conflicting research about what was happening in the region. But he indicated the new federal monitoring plan, in partnership with the Alberta government, would examine all impacts of the oilsands industry on water, air and biodiversity in the region's ecosystems.

He explained some recently announced federal cuts to scientific research on industry's environmental footprint, including the Experimental Lakes Area which allowed scientists to examine impacts of human activity on watersheds and lakes, are part of a shift of government resources toward Western Canada.

Kent noted that the research at the Experimental Lakes Area, ``greatly aided development of the acid rain treaty (with the United States) 21 years ago, but we haven't got the same sort of accumulated deep and broad data that we need from the oilsands.''

``So as part of our oilsands monitoring, a lot of our science is now going to move westward to continue that same sort of work in accumulating the same sorts of scientific data.''

The federal government estimated last summer that its new oilsands monitoring program would cost about $50 million per year, but Kent indicated, at the time,he expected the industry to cover the costs.

Kent also urged NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, who visited the oilsands on Thursday, to keep an open mind about the industry and region, and consider all factors - including the impact of natural seepage of bitumen into the Athabasca River watershed for centuries.

``Open-pit mines are not attractive in any context, anywhere in the world,'' Kent said after delivering a speech at a fish-and-wildlife conservation conference. ``But where they can be responsibly remediated, they can be responsibly developed.''

Kent said he hoped Mulcair would consider points of view from both the Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based environmental think-tank that has suggested some aspects of oilsands expansion are hurting the Canadian economy, as well as the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a think-tank that touted the benefits of expansion of Canada's oil and gas industry.http://www.canada.co...0175/story.html

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Careless? Funny you came up with that conclusion when no reason for the spill was given.

Every single manufacturing and production sector has accidents, oil unfortunately might have some of the largest impacts tho.

No oil company wants spills, not just because of enivronment fines, the cost of clean up is expensive and they lose money in damaged/lost product.

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