SIDNEY, BC – The dismal safety record
of the company responsible for the oil spill near Peace River, Alberta last
month is cause for serious alarm, said the Green Party today. Plains Midstream
Canada, owner of the pipeline that leaked the oil, is a division of Plains All
American, based in Houston, Texas. Plains All American was fined $3.25 million
and forced to spend $41 million in crude pipeline upgrades in a 2010 settlement
with the US Environmental Protection Agency for 10 separate crude oil spills in
violation of the Clean Water Act.
“Plains All American has an atrocious record, and is
responsible for releasing at least 6,510 barrels of crude oil into bodies of
water in Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and in the Gulf of Mexico,” said
Green Party leader Elizabeth May. “Plains Midstream operated its pipeline in
close proximity to Alberta communities and the spill is having a devastating
effect on residents and the environment. Knowing the company’s record of major
spills, what kind of monitoring and oversight of its activities took place in
Canada? Were Canadian officials so lax that the company thought it could get
away with hiding its past pollution?”
The release of nearly 30,000 barrels of oil into muskeg and
wetlands near Peace River, Alberta, took place on April 29, yet the massive
spill was not made public until after the May 2 federal election was over.
“The other unanswered question is whether officials tried to
keep the Plains Midstream spill out of the news until after the election,” said
Ms. May.
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Contact:
Kieran Green Party of Canada
Director of Communications
613-614-4916
Kieran.Green@greenparty.ca