Alberta regulator criticizes pipeline company for 2012 pipeline oil leak

CALGARY – Alberta’s energy regulator is criticizing a pipeline company in a report into a 2012 pipeline leak that dumped nearly half a million litres of oil into a major river.

The Alberta Energy Regulator says operator Plains Midstream failed to inspect the line often enough.

The line cracked open in the Red Deer River when the stream flow was unusually high.

The regulator also says the company didn’t pay attention to high stream-flow advisories, which might have enabled it to limit the damage.

The spill affected about 1,700 people, including businesses and summer cottagers at a reservoir lake downstream.

The regulator has told the company to update its emergency response plan.