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Red faces all round
Just ask the bosses of Suncor Energy and Enbridge about timing being everything.
There they were, putting the best spin on their environmental records for the benefit of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at about the same time they were having to deal with a dose of bad news on the same front.
Suncor got word it had been charged by the Alberta government with leaking dirty water into the Athabasca River and providing misleading information to the government about runoff at its Voyageur upgrader construction site, where work on the 200,000 barrels per day facility was halted last year while Suncor searched for a partner.
The nine charges, which each carry a maximum fine of C$500,000, were hotly contested by a Suncor spokesman who said the company believed it was operating within regulations and had nothing to report. He said there was no bitumen in the runoff.
A spokesman for Alberta Environment said the charges were laid after a two-year investigation, the details of which will be heard in court.
It’s the third time in two years that Suncor has faced environmental charges. It was fined C$675,000 in April 2009 for failing to install pollution control equipment at its Firebag mine site and another C$175,000 for failing to prevent inadequately treated wastewater from entering the Athabasca River from a camp site.
Meanwhile, Suncor Chief Executive Officer Rick George was making an impassioned case to Pelosi about his company’s progress in cleaning up its environmental practices.
“I am extremely proud, and made that point, of our whole track record of continuous improvement on the environmental front,” he said, describing the oil sands as “one of the most transforming industries in North America.”
Already facing heat for its July pipeline rupture in Michigan, including a criminal probe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Enbridge Another leak for Enbridge took yet another blow to its environmental record the same day its Chief Executive Officer Pat Daniel joined George in defending the record of Canadian energy companies and followed that with report of a further mishap.
Enbridge announced Sept. 9 it had shut down its 670,000 bpd Line 6A after a leak was discovered west of Chicago, just six weeks after shutting down its ruptured 190,000 bpd Line 6B in Michigan. The company said Sept. 13 it has completed cleanup work at Line 6A, estimating 6,100 barrels had been spilled and all but 50 barrels had been recovered.
Also on Sept. 13, Enbridge shut down Line 10, near Buffalo, N.Y., to investigate a “potential very small leak” in the 90-mile, 70,000 bpd system.
Heavy crude producers taking hit Refinery sources said the latest incidents are likely to delay even further the restart of Line 6B, draining millions of dollars per day from the revenues of Alberta’s heavy crude producers.
Enbridge, apart from the challenge of delivering crude to its customers, said the Michigan pipeline break and cleanup will likely cost it C$6.6 million after insurance recoveries, although that estimate does not allow for any fines and reflects only Enbridge’s 27 percent stake in U.S. affiliate Enbridge Energy Partners, which has estimated its costs could be as high as US$45 million after insurance payments.
These events coincided with the Alberta government’s latest phase in its energy and oil sands marketing campaign, which includes electronic billboard ads in New York’s Times Square.
The government is paying C$17,000 to run 10-second spots three times an hour until Oct. 15, delivering a message that: “A good neighbor lends you a cup of sugar. A great neighbor supplies you with 1.4 million barrels of oil per day.”
Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach said the objective is to protect and grow the province’s oil markets and defend its industries.
—Gary Park
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