Environmental Protection Order – Pipeline Failure
The AER announced that it had issued an environmental protection order (“EPO”) under section 113 of the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act and section 29 of the Pipeline Act to ConocoPhillips Canada Operations Ltd. (“Conoco”). The EPO was issued in response to a pipeline failure on one of Conoco’s condensate pipelines, located between 01-36-060-03-W6M and 14-07-060-02-W6M. The AER noted that the pipeline failure resulted in the release of approximately 380 cubic meters of condensate approximately 65 kilometers northwest of Grande Cache, Alberta.
The EPO directed Conoco to:
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immediately contain the release and prevent it from spreading,
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identify anyone who may be affected by the release and make sure they are notified,
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control access to the site,
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collect water and soil samples from the site for analysis,
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develop a wildlife mitigation plan and detailed delineation and remediation plan,
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develop daily public reports and publish them to the Conoco website, and
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submit a final report to the AER.
The AER noted in its news release that much of the required work is already underway, and that it is currently conducting an investigation, the results of which will be published by the AER.
