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As crews work to mop up more than a million litres of oil that has spilled in Alberta in a month, Premier Alison Redford is steering the province toward a safety review of its 377,000 kilometres of pipeline.
Ms. Redford has charged her ministers of energy and environment to investigate whether a larger provincial response to the spills is merited. The leaks have come at an alarming pace in recent months, while the government is attempting to persuade its neighbours across Canada and the United States to accept pipelines carrying Alberta crude.
The Premier’s statement on Wednesday, two days after 230,000 litres leaked from an Enbridge pipeline system, that she is “certainly not opposed to the idea” of a more comprehensive review, is her strongest support yet for the notion.
Ms. Redford has long defended Alberta’s pipelines. The province is looking for new markets – the U.S. Gulf Coast, Asia, California, Ontario and Atlantic Canada – to sell the dramatic growth in the output of its oil sands. But wherever it has sought to place new steel into the ground, it has run up against concerns about safety from first nations in B.C., ranchers in Nebraska and farmers in Ontario.
High-profile leaks on Ms. Redford’s home turf are boosting the pressure on the Premier to act. Opposition parties are calling for more spending on inspections and a new look at regulations. Even those once close to the government say inaction is no longer an option.
“It is an issue and I think it has to be addressed,” said Ron Liepert, a former Alberta energy minister who briefly held the finance portfolio under Ms. Redford.
“What’s happened is starting to put doubt in people’s minds –whether those people are in Ontario or Alberta,” he said. “What really would be helpful is for a kind of an independent review.”
After all, Mr. Liepert pointed out, “we’ve got a lot of old pipe running underneath this province.” Forty per cent of Alberta pipeline was built before 1990.
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