Plains Midstream fined after guilty plea in Alberta spills

Photo: A boom stretches out to contain a pipeline leak on the Gleniffer reservoir on June 12, 2012. Plains Midstream Canada says one of their non-functioning pipelines leaked between 1,000 to 3,000 barrels of sour crude near Sundre, Alta., on June 7 and flowed downstream in the Red Deer river to the reservoir. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press)

Plains Midstream fined after guilty plea in Alberta spills

Financial Post/Canadian Press, June 04 2014

"...The beaver did not survive..."

RED DEER, Alta. — A pipeline company has been fined after pleading guilty in two spills that sent a total of nearly five million litres of oil into Alberta rivers and wetlands.

Plains Midstream Canada faced three environmental charges in a courtroom in Red Deer, Alta., on Tuesday and was ordered to pay a total of $1.3-million for the spills, one of which was the second largest in Alberta history.

Greenpeace spokesman Mike Hudema said the figure represents about five hours worth of profit for Plains All American, the company that owns Plains Midstream, which has about 1,250 employees in Canada.

“A $1.3-million fine for Plains Midstream is hardly a signal to the company or Alberta’s problem-plagued pipeline industry that they need to start solving their ongoing spill issues,” he said.


According to an agreed statement of facts, a poorly welded and highly stressed section of the 48-year-old Rainbow pipeline cracked on April 28, 2011. About 4.5 million litres of oil leaked into low-lying marshlands near the northern Alberta community of Little Buffalo.

Only the lucky location of a beaver dam prevented the oil from flowing beyond the low-lying spot where the leak occurred.

“A beaver dam was present that stopped the vast majority (and probably all) of the oil from escaping,” said the statement.

The beaver did not survive.

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