Notley: ERCB leaves many questions after pipeline

May 16, 2011

Alberta NDP environment critic Rachel Notley is calling for public investigations into Alberta’s pipeline inspections after Alberta’s largest pipeline leak in 35 years.

“On Friday we had a pipeline leak so significant it shuttered a nearby school. Yet we didn’t learn about the scale of the spill for five days, until the day after the federal election. Either there was political interference, or there are serious questions about environmental oversight in this province,” says Notley.

  “We need an independent assessment of this government’s inspection regimes and staffing levels – and full disclosure of all the facts about the current leak,” Notley says. “Either we need more frequent testing, or there’s something wrong with the way we’re testing these pipelines. There are tens of thousands of kilometres of aging pipeline in this province. We’ve had three leaks in the past two weeks. We need the resources and inspectors to check all that line so Albertans and their environment are safe.”

 Little Buffalo School, about 30 km away from the spill, has been shut down since the leak began because staff and students were sickened by petroleum fumes. Residents are complaining they’ve been left in the dark by the ERCB, who’s only measure was to fax a one-page letter to the community saying there were no air quality issues detected.

 Notley also raised concerns about Alberta’s overall approach to inspections, given the 44-year-old pipeline leaked 200,000 litres of oil in 2006 and was inspected in 2009.