Board denies request to keep spill confidential
Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board refuses to withhold information on Strategic Oil and Gas' waste-water leak
Cody Punter
Northern News Services
Published Monday, October 20, 2014
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
An oil and gas company's attempt to keep a spill at a drilling site just north of the NWT-Alberta border confidential has been shot down by the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board.
Board chair Willard Hagen says the land and water board takes transparency and accountability seriously, and suggests Strategic and other oil companies do the same. |
The spill occurred at Calgary-based Strategic Oil and Gas Ltd.'s Cameron Hills Project site, approximately 100 kilometres south of Kakisa, on Aug. 14, when a mix of methane, water and oil was released an area estimated to measure 1,500 square metres.
According to documents the company provided the land and water board, the spill was contained within 40 minutes and was reported to the NT-NU Spill Report Line two hours later, well within the legislated 24-hour limit. In the following days, all contaminated vegetation and soil were removed from the site.
In a Sept. 19 e-mail to the board, Shelley Johnston, a regulatory and environmental affairs officer with the company, requested that the incident be kept confidential to "prevent unnecessary concern" in the surrounding communities of Enterprise and Kakisa.
"Strategic deemed that no communities would be impacted or potentially impacted as result of the ... incident, because it was contained on-lease, minor in nature and cleaned up immediately," reads the e-mail from Johnston.
In its response to Strategic two weeks ago, the water board stated that all spills must be made public, regardless of their size or the extent to which they are cleaned up.
"In the board's view, the effects of the permits and regulations are obvious. A 'reportable spill' is defined through (the conditions) of the permit. Strategic had one," wrote board chair Willard Hagen in the letter dated Oct. 9.
Although the spill did not immediately impact a surrounding community, Hagen stated that the affected area is a traditional harvesting area for aboriginal groups who are currently engaged in land claims negotiations. While not being used for harvesting at the moment, he noted the land is expected to be returned to its original use after the company's operations have ceased.
"The board takes its obligations to aboriginal groups and the Mackenzie Valley very seriously. This relationship is based on transparency and accountability," Hagen stated. "We suggest that Strategic should approach its relationship to communities in the vicinity of its NWT operations in similar fashion."
Enterprise Mayor John Leskiw II had not heard of the spill until he was contacted by News/North on Oct. 17.
He said he understands that Strategic may have wanted to withhold the information from the public to avoid causing any undue concern. However, he said he is a strong believer in full disclosure.
"In cases like this where they don't give full disclosure immediately, I think that they're not looking at the bigger possibility that people are going to start going, 'well what are they hiding?'" he said. "And that can probably make the matter worse, which is what nobody needs."
"It puts a lot of doubt on whatever information they do give out because if it is as safe as they say then why are they trying to hide it."
A follow-up letter from Strategic Oil and Gas Ltd.'s vice president of its land division, Barbara Joy stated that the water board misrepresented its request to keep the spill confidential. She stated that the company was simply seeking clarification regarding the definitions of a "potentially affected community or defined vicinity."
In a later interview, Joy said the company wasn't trying to cover up the leak.
"We didn't do it from a place of necessarily wanting to keep it confidential, we did it from a place of understanding whether we needed to notify communities because there was no clear definition around 'potentially affected,'" Joy told News/North.
Although the company was unaware that its correspondence via email would be submitted to a review process, she said the company is now better equipped to communicate with communities in a "timely manner."
According to a staff report from the board, analysis is still ongoing to determine the extent of impacted area related to the spill. In the event that additional cleanup is required, it will take place this winter.
