Posted: 11 Oct, 2016
Calgary-based Trilogy Energy Corp. discovered a leak Thursday at its Kaybob project, about 15 kilometers northeast of Fox Creek (about 260 km northwest of Edmonton). The Alberta Energy Regulator reported oil emulsion, leaked into a flowing marsh area. Investigators still don't know how much product was released because they’re having trouble getting equipment to the scene through the heavy forest, AER spokeswoman Carrie Rosa said Monday.
“It’s tough to access. It’s really densely vegetated. The past few days have been spent creating access to the impacted area so the crews can begin the delineation and remediation work.”
The weekend snow also created challenges for staff from the energy regulator Trilogy and their contractors, she said.
While workers have started taking soil and water samples, they don’t know the extent of the environmental damage. The pipeline has been purged of any remaining product.
In a statement last week, Trilogy said it had activated its emergency response plan, and company crews and related response teams were assessing the impact of the leak and starting the cleanup.