Oil leak kills at least 300 birds

Wednesday, 24 September 2008 21:52

ALEX MCCUAIG for The Pipeline At least 300 birds have been killed after an abandoned sweet crude well operated by Harvest Energy Trust leaked between 60 and 90 barrels of oil five kilometres east of Ralston, within CFB Suffield. Company CEO and president John Zahary says the company found out about the leak midday Monday and immediately contacted the federal and provincial authorities while crews moved to contain the spill later that afternoon. “We are embarrassed by this situation,” he said. “Hopefully we will be able to rectify the situation as soon as possible.” The non-producing well was monitored every few months, a fact Zahary says is above industry standards and in line with the company’s policy of ensuring proper environmental management at their sites. “Our practices need to improve and they are improving,” he said. Davis Sheremata, Energy Resources Conservation Board spokesperson, said the well was abandoned nine days after drilling in December of 2005. “For the investigation, we will interview staff from the company, look at all the records going back to when it was abandoned and then we are going to look at the bridge plug as well as the grade of cement used.” A puddle five metres in circumference was formed by the leak, fed by a 200 metre long stream from the actual well site, according to Sheremata. He also stated that abandoned wells don’t require regular inspection under provincial regulations but, “the vast majority of them tend to stay abandoned and not be a problem ever again.” Corlaine Gardner, chief interpreter at Police Point Park, suspects the dead birds may have been migrating and attracted to what would have appeared as a body of water to some waterfowl. “If birds see something that looks like water, they will land,” she said. “(The oil) would affect their feathers and they would get trapped.” Environment Minister Rob Renner said there would be a provincial review to determine what caused the leak. “We need to ensure that ... when an incident does occur that there (are) appropriate measures taken to not only clean up the environmental contamination that results, but put safeguards in place so it doesn’t happen again,” he said There are over 10,000 producing, suspended or abandoned wells within CFB Suffield. with files from The Canadian Press