Canada: Native struggles against dangerous tar sands oil continues
Submitted by tribalscribal on Sun, 06/16/2013 - 12:28pm
Ref:  http://climateimc.org/en/news-sources/2013/06/16/canada-native-struggles-against-dangerous-tar-sands-oil-continues

What other spills is the Alberta Government not telling you about? 'Derrick' on June 16th, 2013 4:33 am -

If the Alberta Government didn’t inform you about one of the largest spills in the province’s history – How many other spills don’t we know about?

It was one of the largest spills in Alberta turbulent pipeline history and the biggest in recent memory. 60,000 barrels of toxic industrial waste water. 9.5 million litres, soaked into wetlands, and tributaries near Zama City in Northwestern Alberta. Ref:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/apache-pipeline-leaks-60000-barrels-of-salty-water-in-northwest-alberta/article12494371/

The Dene Tha, whose traditional territory the spill site is on, are already reporting widespread damage from dead trees, to poisoned marshes, to impacts on wildlife and waterfowl.

The spill was reported to the Alberta government on June 1st, how long it had been spilling we don’t know. The Dene Tha think it may have been weeks, perhaps even months.

It was only on the June 6th, thanks to a local resident reporting it to a TV station, that the spill became public knowledge, in fact, the first written statement from the Alberta government’s energy regulator, the ERCB, wasn’t released until June 12th – 11-days after the massive spill.


It took just hours for the NEB to put out a press release about the 12-barrel Kinder-Morgan spill in BC yet it’s questionable if that local resident didn’t report the 60,000 barrel spill to the press that the Alberta government would have ever made it public knowledge.

When the Alberta Government was asked why they didn’t alert the public they said there are hundreds of spills every year in Alberta, most of which are small. The agency doesn’t alert people “unless there is a public or environmental impact, or an ongoing operational issue,” Bob Curran, ERCB spokesperson explained.

Apparently the Alberta government and the ERCB didn’t think it was necessary in this case to alert the public.

If the Alberta government doesn’t think it’s necessary to alert the public when 9.5 million litres of toxic industrial waste water drenches a wetland, killing trees and according to Suzanne Bayley, a professor emeritus with the University of Alberta who specializes in wetlands ecology, will transform the area into a, “big dead-looking area for quite a while” what else aren’t they telling us?

How many spills are happening that the Alberta government is not telling us about?

A recent Global TV investigative report said Alberta averages 2-spills everyday.

I think the public deserves to know what’s going on. They deserve to know whenever a spill happen, they deserve truthful and accurate information, they deserves pictures so they can see the impact for themselves, and the public deserves a government that gives that to them.

Please write Premier Redford at  premier@gov.ab.ca and let her know your thoughts.