Feature story - January 7, 2009
Greenpeace has learned that a blown valve at an Enbridge tank farm in Northern Alberta has released about 4,000 barrels of oil, contaminating the site and the adjacent forest area, a habitat for area wildlife. The oil began spewing 30 to 40 metres into the air Saturday night, and continued unchecked for almost three hours before being reported to Alberta Environment by a concerned citizen.
Braving toxic fumes and the same toxic tailings waste that earlier this year killed 500 ducks, Greenpeace activists entered Syncrude's Aurora North tar sands operation early this morning and attempted to block a pipe into the two-kilometre wide tailings pond. The activists also suspended a banner that read "World's Dirtiest Oil: Stop the Tar Sands."
On January 6, Greenpeace received an anonymous tip on our Alberta-based hotline from a member of a First Nations community in the Anzac area. The tipster was concerned that the oil spill was going unreported by the company and that neighbouring wildlife and communities would pay the price.
This is what we know: On January 3, at the Enbridge Cheechan Terminal tank farm on hwy 881 just south of Anzac, a valve blew on a pipe and oil began to spew 30 to 40 metres into the air and went undetected for two to three hours. Approximately 4,000 barrels of oil was spilled. The majority of the oil on the ground flowed into the storage where it's intended to go in the event of a leak, but what blew over the fence is all over the neighbouring trees and ground, and our tipster saw many wildlife tracks through the oil. The safety of the wildlife was of utmost concern to local residents, who called in the incident to Alberta Environment and to Greenpeace.
Tip Line
This tip came in on the Greenpeace tip line which was set up last spring following the drowning deaths of 500 birds in a Syncrude tailings pond. The concern was that other similar incidents were going unreported by the companies responsible, as was the case with the 500 birds. Since then, Greenpeace has received dozens of tips that have been forwarded to relevant authorities for their investigation.
If you have a tip, please call our hotline at 1-780-430-9202, extension 3. Your anonymity will be respected.
The Enbridge tank farm is unmanned and with no security onsite, the oil leak went on unchecked for a few hours. Even the detection system didn't notice the leak, because, as Enbridge told our tipster, 4000 barrels was "too small a spill" to register. Yet this "small spill" has resulted in a blanket of black oil over the entire facility and beyond the boundaries.
Monday morning, Enbridge quietly began cleaning up the area. But while the site itself is designed to contain a spill, the wildlife outside of the fence remains unprotected.
So far there has been no public disclosure of any sorts. The lack of oversight and accountability by private companies and the failure of the Alberta government to place adequate deterrents in place have led to far too many incidents such as this one.
Greenpeace is calling on Alberta Environment to ensure the cleanup is successfully completed and that proper measures are taken to protect wildlife.