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Pembina shuts down pipeline after leak
News Articles Featured | Globe and Mail | July 20, 2011
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Pembina Pipeline Corp. (PPL-T25.47-0.13-0.51%) has shut down one of its pipelines near Slave Lake after discovering a leak, with oil reaching muskeg and an unnamed creek.
About 1,300 barrels of oil spilled, the company said Wednesday, noting it has since installed booms and weirs to “reduce any further potential impact.” Pembina shuttered the line Tuesday morning.
A string of pipeline spills are stoking boisterous opposition to two major oil sands pipeline proposals, particularly when leaks touch sources of water. Enbridge Inc. wants to build a pipeline to British Columbia’s west coast from the oil sands, and TransCanada Corp. is trying to convince U.S. regulators to approve its proposed line extension to the Gulf Coast.
“We take this kind of incident extremely seriously,” said Bob Michaleski, Pembina’s chief executive in a statement Wednesday. “We are highly committed to the safety of the communities in which we operate and to the environment, and undertook immediate action to minimize any potential impact to the land and waterways once we confirmed the spill.”
The spill happened approximately three kilometres north of Pembina’s Swan Hills terminal and pump station, Pembina said. The site is the second shutdown near Slave Lake, with a portion of the Rainbow pipeline, owned by Plains All American Pipeline LP, closed after it spilled about 28,000 barrels of light oil on April 28.
Pembina said clean-up crews have been dispatched, and it has informed regulators. It has also arranged for its shippers to truck their crude to other Pembina truck terminals. It is trying to determine both the source and the precise size of the leak.
The company said it “confirmed that oil had not entered any named waterways or sources of drinking water.”
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