Partial Summary of Oil Spills in 2016

Fossil fuels are the primary cause of climate change, they are also prone to spills. Such spills are toxic and they have been a consistent part of the fossil fuel industry since its inception. As long as we extract and transport oil and gas spills are a statistical certainty.

In December, Wired reported that there are about 30,000 oil spills in US waters every year. In October, Hurricane Ivan caused dozens of leaks in undersea oil wells and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico. Some of these spills will leak for decades. The Taylor Energy site will continue to leak between 84 and 1,470 gallons per day for the next hundred years. The oil slick from this spill stretches over eight square miles on an average day. Taylor Energy has gone bankrupt and they just walked away from the mess they created.

Liberal Dualism: Canadian Climate Leadership is at Odds with Ramping Up Fossil Fuels

The ruling federal Liberals have canceled one pipeline and approved two others. It is but the most recent example of Canada's one step forward two steps back approach to climate action.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has the laudable goal of wanting to be a climate champion and an economic leader. However, this balancing act is completely undermined when you add increased fossil fuel production to the equation. Canada was criticized at COP22 for expanding its fossil fuel production and now they have compounded the problem by adding a couple of pipelines to the mix.

Contradictory climate and energy policies

Canadian government energy and environmental policy is a checkerboard of seemingly opposing policy positions. The government announced a carbon tax then followed that up with a massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. To further illustrate the two faces of this government, they banned tanker traffic off the coast of northern BC while increasing traffic to the south. Most recently they rejected some pipelines while approving others.

Another Day Another Oil Spill This Time in Alabama (Video)

Although nobody seems to have noticed, between a quarter and a third of a million gallons of gasoline has leaked from a pipeline in the middle of September. The Colonial Pipeline Company reported the spill prompting the governors of Alabama and Georgia to declare states of emergency. The sad fact is that oil and gas spills have become so common that it is no longer construed as newsworthy.

The ecological impact of the spill appears to be secondary to concerns about the interruption of the supply. In Alabama the Pipeline spill triggered a supplier 'Red Alert' and Georgia Gov. Robert Bentley issued an executive order Thursday declaring a state of emergency in Alabama.

New Pipeline Safety Law Followed by Another Oil Spill

Mere hours after President Obama signed the PIPES safety bill into law, a pipeline spilled thousands of gallons of oil. Protecting our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act of 2016 became law on June 22nd. Within hours of the signing an oil pipeline erupted in Ventura County, California. It was first noticed by a local rancher early Thursday morning.
The spill emanated from a ten inch underground pipeline owned by Colorado-based Crimson Pipeline LLC. It sent an estimated 29,400 gallons of crude oil down into an arroyo that flows through the city of Ventura and reaches the ocean near the Ventura Pier. The spill marks Crimson’s 11th such incident in the last ten years.

Oil Train Derails and Explodes in Oregon Adjacent to the Columbia River (Video)

An oil train derailment and explosion along the Columbia river in Oregon has once again highlighted the dangers of transporting oil by rail. Around noon on Friday June 2nd, 2016, at least 12 rail cars carrying Bakken oil operated by Union Pacific derailed and caught fire. The wreck occurred in the Columbia River Gorge near the community of Mosier in Oregon which is about about 70 miles east of Portland. The derailment and subsequent fire has forced the evacuation of local schools and nearby homes. The I-84 highway has also been closed to traffic. The fire burned overnight and plumes of black smoke were seen billowing from the scene.

The rail line runs adjacent to the Columbia river which is widely used for both recreation and commerce. Residents of the town of Mosier are being asked to boil their water.

Second Shell Oil Spill in Less than Two Weeks

For the second time in less than two weeks pipelines belonging to Shell have leaked oil. The most recent spill has leaked 21,000 Gallons (500 barrels) of oil near Tracy in San Joaquin County, California. This time the culprit was the company's underground San Pablo Bay Pipeline which transports crude oil from California’s Central Valley to the San Francisco Bay Area. The spill took place on May 20th but Shell did not report the leak until the evening of Monday May 23.

Summary of Fossil Fuel Spills in 2015 (Videos)

Oil spills continued to be a problem in 2015 with a number of major incidents in North America. These spills contaminated both land and waterways and prompted the evacuation of local citizens. Whether by pipe, ship, rail or truck, there are well founded concerns about the safety of transporting fossil fuels. These concerns add weight to the argument that we need to expedite the shift away from fossil fuels. Many consecutive years with substantial numbers of spills illustrate the dangers associated with transporting fossil fuels.

Montana Oil Train Derailment and Spill

On Tuesday July 14th, a train containing 106 oil cars derailed in eastern Montana. A total of 22 cars came off the tracks and at least two of those cars are known to have spilled their load. The derailment took place near Culbertson close to the North Dakota border. In May another oil train derailed and 10 tanker cars caught fire in an incident near Hamberg, North Dakota.

New Charges Against MMA Employees in Lac Mégantic Train Wreck

Several people have been indicted 2 years after the tragic oil train derailment that killed 47 people and decimated the town of Lac Mégantic Quebec. This includes President and CEO of the now defunct Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA) rail company Robert Gindrod, managers and the train's engineer. These people face the possibility of jail terms or fines for violations of the Rail Safety Act and the Fisheries Act.

New Oil Train Rules Do Not Go Far Enough

Over the last few years a spate of exploding oil trains in North America has prompted politicians in the US and Canada to introduce new rules designed to make rail transportation safer. We have seen many more derailments and explosions recently due to the 4,000 percent increase in oil shipments by rail between 2008 to 2014. It is a statistical certainty that derailments increase in proportion to the amount of oil shipped by rail.

The actual number of derailments and explosions have exceeded government predictions by 20 percent. A federal government report predicted an average of 10 oil train derailments each year and at a cost of four and a half billion dollars over the next 20 years. However, in the last year alone there have been 12 oil train derailments and in the past two years there have been almost two dozen such derailments.

Freedom Industries and CEO Charged Over Spill

Just before Christmas, Freedom Industries and six former officials of the company were charged with federal crimes associated with the spilling coal processing chemicals into the Elk River in West Virginia. The spill, which occured on January 9th 2014 poisoned the drinking water of at least 300,000 people.

The leak emanated from a storage tank consisted of 7,500 gallons of a coal washing chemical known as 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (MCMH). A number of people got sick and went to hospital due to their ingestion of the chemical. In addition to contaminating drinking water and making people sick the spill reportedly cost local businesses $61 million.

Enbridge Spills Again

On December 16th, a 1,350-barrel (56,700-gallon) oil spill at a Regina terminal in Saskatchewan forced Enbridge to temporarily close a pipeline that connects to a terminal in Wisconsin. The 796,000 barrel-a-day Line 4 pipeline was shutdown after a leak was detected in a valve.

Enbridge is a $57 billion company that is no stranger to oil spills. Early in 2014 a W5 report showed how Enbridge's Line 9 had a host of unreported spills, alarming communities. According to the report, the 830 km Line 9 pipeline runs between Sarnia Ontario and Terrebonne Quebec has had at least 35 unreported spills.

Enbridge is best known for their role in the largest and most expensive inland oil spill in US history. The 2010 event in Michigan spilled more than 800,000-gallons (3.8 million litres or 20,000 barrels) of diluted oil-sands bitumen, contaminating a 48-km stretch of the Kalamazoo River. The cleanup was hampered by the fact that the tar sands crude sank to the bottom of the river. The cleanup costs alone were at least $1.2 billion excluding the reimbursement to those who were impacted.

Related
Oil Spill Poisons Muskeg in Northern Alberta
Two Pipeline Spills: Tar Sands and Brine
Unstoppable Oil Leak at a Tar Sands Production Site in Alberta
Infographic: 13 Oil Spills in 30 Days
Top 25 Oil Spills Over 1000 Tonnes in the Last Decade
Pipelines and Oil Spills in Alberta Canada
Enbridge and The Farce of Canada's Carbon Capture
How the Hell did Enbridge get on the 2012 -2013 DJSI Leaders List?

Pipeline Oil Spill Poisons Muskeg in Northern Alberta

There has been another oil spill in Alberta that has poisoned a large area of muskeg. This spill occurred at a pipeline belonging to Canadian Natural Resources Limited approximately 27 kilometers north of Red Earth Creek. According to the Alberta Energy Regulator around 60,000 litres of crude oil have spilled into muskeg northwest of Slave Lake.

Muskeg is an Algonquian term for "grassy bog," another name for it is peatland. It generally is defined by a wet environment and vegetation.

Two Pipeline Spills: Tar Sands and Brine

On August 29, 2014 Anterra Energy Inc spilled Over 300,000 Litres of Crude Oil and Salt/Produced Water from a pipeline into a nearby waterbody 63Km North of Slave Lake Alberta.

The Anterra spill follows a brine spill from an underground North Dakota pipeline on the weekend of July 4th.  Around 1 million gallons spilled down a bluff into local waterways. The brine contains petroleum and residue from hydraulic fracturing operations. The spill occurred in a pipeline owned by the Crestwood subsidiary Arrow Pipeline LLC.

These spills are but the latest in a large and growing number of spills reinforcing the point that fossil fuels cannot be safely transported.

Related
Pipelines and Oil Spills in Alberta Canada
Unstoppable Oil Leak at a Tar Sands Production Site in Alberta
Infographic: 13 Oil Spills in 30 Days
Top 25 Oil Spills Over 1000 Tonnes in the Last Decade

Toxic Tailings Pond Spill in BC Contaminates Drinking Water and Threatens Wildlife

On the fourth of August over a billion gallons of toxic effluents from a tailings pond in British Columbia (BC) breached its banks. This spill poisoned local drinking water and threatens wildlife. The toxic river that spilled into local waterways is composed of the remnants of mining operations that include chemicals like arsenic, mercury, and sulfur.

The mining waste was contained in an open-pit at Mount Polley copper and gold mine. Five million cubic meters (1.3 billion gallons) of slurry poured into Polley Lake and Hazeltine Creek. Hazeltine Creek which used to be four feet wide expanded to 150 feet to accommodate the massive volume of toxic sludge. The creek flows into Quesnel River which in turn flows into BC's majestic Fraser River, the longest river in the province.

The End of Oil Trains?

Early in July, people from across North America and around the world paused to remember the one year anniversary of the Lac-Mégantic oil train disaster. This tragic anniversary and the recent spate of rail accidents has increased calls to reign-in oil trains.

The environmental and emotional legacy of the Lac-Mégantic disaster

On July 6, 2013, a runaway train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded killing 47 people and destroying a large part of the little town of Lac-Mégantic. On the anniversary of the disaster, dignitaries joined the people of the town to mourn the tragic events.

Oil Train Derailments: How Many Wake-Up Calls do we Need?

If you need proof of the dangers of transporting oil by rail you need look no further than the spate of accidents that plagued oil trains in the past year. Recent incidence are a statistical outgrowth of the radically increased volume of trains bearing crude.

There have been a number of serious derailments and oil spills, however none were more terrible than the tragic events in Lac Megantic on July 6, 2013.

The growing volume of oil being moved by rail increases the risks from accidents. The equation is simple the more oil that is moved by rail the more risk we incur.

The events in Lac Megantic are but the tip of the iceberg. There have been numerous other oil train incidents in the last year including accidents in:

Tables - Rail Traffic in North America

Curtailing the Transport of Oil by Pipe and Rail

There are a host of benefits associated with decreasing the amount of oil transported by rail. This will not only prevent deaths, injuries and environmental contamination, it will also reduce the amount of oil that makes it to market, which will in turn minimize emissions and drive up the price. Pipelines are the cheapest way to move oil. The cost of moving oil by pipeline is estimated to be between $5 to $10 per barrel of oil compared to $10 to $20 per barrel by train.

Rail industry regulations on the transport of fossil fuels will go a long way to help minimize dangerous accidents. They also have the ancillary benefit of driving up the price of oil which will increase the relative value of renewable sources of energy.

New Government Regulation of Oil Trains

In the wake of an unprecedented spike in oil train accidents both the US and Canadian governments have introduced regulations to address the dangers of shipping oil by rail.

In the US, federal regulators have tightened some rules for oil shippers. On June 7, 2014, in the wake of an emergency order from the Department of Transportation, railroads now have to disclose the times and locations of oil trains to state emergency responders. Railroads that do not release information face a fine of $175,000 per day and risk being banned from being able to transport Bakken oil.