A Spill is Worth a Thousand Words

Wild Lands Advocate update, August 2012, by Madeline Wilson. Wilson responds to the recent spate of pipeline spills in Alberta by pointing out that current management and monitoring standards are increasingly unable to protect us from an aging pipeline network.

“AWA remains extremely concerned about the lack of rigorous, precautionary management and monitoring systems in place, and the cumulative impacts resulting from this weak regulation. Increasing national and international focus on major pipeline project proposals has fuelled mounting public concern regarding pipeline integrity. Large-scale disasters, such as the Red Deer River spill, indicate the province is not doing enough to ensure that the environmental and public health risks posed by energy development and the cumulative impacts of active and abandoned energy infrastructure across the province are being adequately managed. It is clear that current management and monitoring standards are able to safeguard neither the integrity of valuable ecosystems, nor the health and safety of Albertans.”