Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Rainbow Lake Oil Spill 2012: 22,000 Barrels Spill In Northwestern Part Of Alberta

An oil spill that went undetected for days has released 22,000 barrels of oil into northeastern Alberta’s muskeg, news sources report.

The spill, an emulsion composed of oil and water, came from a waste disposal line owned by Pace Oil and Gas, and was evidently only discovered when an aircraft from another oil company made a routine flyover in the area on May 19, the Calgary Herald reports.

The spill is “among the largest in North America in recent years,” reports the Globe and Mail.

Pace Oil and Gas has set up a 50-person camp near the spill, which is located about 20 kilometres southwest of Rainbow Lake, in northern Alberta, the Globe reports. The company has built trenches around the site and oil-skimming equipment has so far recovered about 11 per cent of the emulsion, according to company spokespeople.

This is the second major oil spill in Alberta in a year. Last year, the Rainbow pipeline, owned by Plains All American Pipeline, spilled 28,000 barrels of oil into northern Alberta’s forests.

Also last year, Alberta-based Enbridge struggled with an oil leak from a pipeline in Michigan, after a two-vehicle collision damaged an above-ground portion of the pipe.

Regulators told the Herald that spills like the one at Rainbow Lake are infrequent, despite the large volume of oil that moves out of the province every day.

"These types of spills are rare," Darin Barter of Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board told the Herald.

Original Article
Source: huffington post
Author: Daniel Tencer 

1 comment:

  1. I'm sure the provincial PC government is just going to slap them on the hand and say don't do that again. The usual $25,000 fine is not enough to stop this and it's quite surprising that this even made the news considering that it's usually just covered up. The oil company pays out the landowner for damages and puts a gag order on them.

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