Pipeline spills are not the exception in Alberta, they are an oily reality

Alberta Environment Minister Diana McQueen, left, and Premier Alison Redford at Dickson Dam talk to reporters about an oil spill from a pipeline leak in central Alberta.

Photograph by: Dean Bicknell , Calgary Herald

Pipeline spills are not the exception in Alberta, they are an oily reality

Since 2006, province's pipelines have spilled the equivalent of almost 28 million litres of oil

By Stephen Hume,

Vancouver Sun

June 14, 2012

When a smiling Alberta Premier Alison Redford describes last week's pipeline spill of 475,000 litres of oil into a pristine river as an "exception," she is serving up unadulterated spin.

Something is exceptional when it happens so infrequently that when it does occur, it's a surprise.

But I know from my reporting career, which was ushered in by a series of massive pipeline spills in Alberta more than 40 years ago, that these events occur with depressing regularity.

The pipeline industry has had almost half a century to work on the problem, yet oil spills, explosions, fires and toxic pollution as a consequence of ruptures are anything but exceptional. They still happen on an almost daily basis.

So when enthusiasts for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline project rush to hype the safety of pipeline technology and denounce doubters as part of some sinister conspiracy while scoffing at questions about risk as public hysteria, take it all with several pounds of salt.

Sean Kheraj, a York University history professor, has been crunching the official numbers and posting his startling findings about the grimy past of the pipeline industry.

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