Crude oil from a Penn West pipeline break got into Lesser Slave River last week. According to the Energy Resources Conservation Board, something less than 125 barrels escaped before the company shut down the line.
The leak happened Apr. 30, on a 125-barrel per day line near the Otawau River, about 15 kilometres upstream from its confluence with the Lesser Slave. A ‘sheen’ was visible on the Lesser Slave that morning, reports M.D. of Lesser Slave River Director of Field Operations George Snider.
Penn West put a containment and recovery program into action the same day, using booms and other equipment. Some of it was supplied by the Area ‘D’ Spill Co-op, based in Slave Lake.
The results of the containment effort were not available by press time. Calls to Penn West had not been returned, and the ERCB, although it sounded optimistic, did not have any firm information about how much oil had leaked and how much of it had been recovered.
Complicating the containment effort was the threat of ice floating down the river. In a follow-up release on May 1, the ERCB said the boom on the Lesser Slave had to be removed due to “high water and debris.” This allowed the ‘oil sheen’ to carry on down the river and enter the Athabasca. There was apparently no plan to do anything about it.
“Deployment of booms across the Athabasca River is of negligible benefit due to the high waters and debris from runoff,” says the release, “plus the thinness of the sheen. Water samples from the Athabasca River at the Town of Athabasca have indicated no levels of hydrocarbons.”
Alberta Environment spokesperson Erin Carrier told The Leader that Smith and Athabasca both stopped taking water out of the Athabasca River when they heard the news, just to be on the safe side. She said Smith had about a month’s supply of water on hand, and Athabasca had enough for 48 hours.
The ERCB expected the sheen to have passed Athabasca on May 2.
Carrier said Environment had a person on site who was supervising a water-sampling program downstream from the contamination zone.
As for the impact on wildlife, Carrier said it was the opinion of Fish & Wildlife personnel that there was none.

Copyright © 2000 The Lakeside Leader. All Rights Reserved.
No part may be reproduced without written permission.

View our Privacy Statement.
Send website suggestions to the Webmaster