Crews continue to clean up oil spill

Crews continue to clean up oil spill For the second time in a year, a major oil spill in remote northwestern Alberta has clean-up crews scrambling. Edmonton-Strathcona MLA Rachel Notley is calling on the Alberta government to strengthen pipeline monitoring in response to what the NDP described as the third largest oil-spill in Canadian history. "The company's got all of the right people, personnel and contractors on site to do the job (of cleaning)," Barter said. Fred Woods is president and CEO of Pace. That's where a water-and-oil emulsion was being disposed of in an underground porous formation 1,700 metres down. Woods estimated there are 80 wells within a three-mile area, which produces light sweet crude oil. "We're Albertans so we care about this for sure . " . Pace has more than 50 wells - four wells with similar construction - that caused the company some concern, Woods said. "We have a considerable amount of oil on the ground," he said. Barter said he wouldn't speculate on the ranking of the spill, billed by some reports as the third largest in Canadian history. "We're not focusing on the cost but doing the right thing for the local community. "A situation like this would be extremely rare for this industry, for sure," Woods said. A trench has been dug around the perimeter of the spill to contain it, and measures to keep wildlife away include cannons and klaxons and fencing, he said. It was the second large spill in a year, he said, recalling the 28,000-gallon Plains Midstream Rainbow pipeline spill discovered in April 2011 some 100 km north of Peace River. The most recent spill occurred 20 km southeast of Rainbow Lake, and its aftermath has apparently caused stock prices to dip for Pace Oil Crews continue to clean up oil spill Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 03/06/2012