Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 26/7/2016 (1518 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Editorial

Alberta’s hopes of persuading other provinces to accept oil pipelines took a hit last week when Husky Energy spilled a mixture of heavy oil and diluent out of its pipeline near Maidstone, Sask., into the North Saskatchewan River. The news got worse through the weekend as the oil spread down the North Saskatchewan, threatening the drinking water of North Battleford and Prince Albert.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, since taking power 14 months ago, has been asking other provinces and the federal government to support construction of pipelines that will help bring Alberta oil sands output to seaports either in British Columbia or the Atlantic Provinces. Enbridge Inc.’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to Kitimat, B.C., has vanished from public discussion in the face of opposition. Kinder-Morgan’s proposed line from Edmonton to Vancouver is still under debate. The TransCanada Corp. Energy East plan is still taking shape as a way of bringing bitumen to St John, N.B., for export. TransCanada’s other plan, the Keystone XL line to Oklahoma, was vetoed by U.S. President Barack Obama.

If none of these lines is built, Alberta oil producers must rely on rail shipment to haul their bitumen to market. But all of the plans involve shipping the product across other people’s land, and the other people, fearful of spills, are closely watching the news about pipeline performance.

The news from Maidstone was not reassuring. Husky learned it was spilling oil when people saw the oil slick on the surface of the North Saskatchewan. By then, 200,000 or 250,000 litres had spilled, the company estimated, a small spill by industry standards. Enbridge, by comparison, spilled 20,000 barrels (about 3 million litres) into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan in 2010.

Even so, Husky’s containment booms were not able to stop the oil from moving eastward in the powerful current of the North Saskatchewan. North Battleford switched to ground water sources and told its people to reduce water consumption. Prince Albert laid a 30 kilometre hose across country to the South Saskatchewan River, closed all laundromats and car-washes and told its people to stop watering their lawns.

Kinder-Morgan and TransCanada have to persuade provincial governments, First Nations and towns along their proposed routes their pipelines will be different from Husky’s line at Maidstone and Enbridge’s line in Michigan. They won’t rupture and they won’t leak but if they do, the companies will know about it right away and turn off the flow immediately. Even if the oil keeps spilling, they know how to deploy containment booms and prevent the oil from spreading.

This case will be difficult to make to people who are paying attention to Husky’s experience in Maidstone.

Husky posted a notice saying it was responding to the incident and that its primary focus was the safety of the public and the protection of the environment. But if that were its primary focus, it would not be operating a pipeline that contaminates the drinking water of its neighbours.

Premier Notley, who has been helping the industry make its case for pipeline construction, needs to break some bad news to the industry. It is shooting itself in the foot and destroying its own argument. Until the industry improves the performance of its existing networks, it is wasting its breath asking the public to believe it has changed its ways from the bad old days of leaky pipelines.