‘ Deterrents’ erected to keep animals out of Nexen spill site
One dead duck has been found at the site of a five-million litre spill of bitumen emulsion from a Nexen pipeline rupture southeast of Fort McMurray. The duck was found Sunday morning on the western side of the spill site, Nexen said Monday.
“It is believed the duck had been at the spill site before many of the wildlife deterrents were put in place,” the company said in a written statement.
“A number of protective measures and deterrents are now in place to help prevent wildlife from accessing the area affected by the release.”
The measures include fences, wildlife cannons, effigies and bird flagging, Nexen said. “There is also a considerable amount of human activity 24 hours a day associated with the containment and cleanup operations.”
The spill, 36 kilometres southeast of Fort McMurray within Nexen’s Long Lake operations, is on the Fort McMurray First Nation’s traditional territory.
Nexen has given First Nation members full access to the site, councillor Byron Bates said. He said a First Nation member who saw the dead duck said it was covered in bitumen.
“We hate to see any animal wander into that thick black goo,” Bates said. “It’s terrible. I’d hate to see a bear wander into there.”
But he said the bitumen is a smaller concern than the millions of litres of process water that also spilled from the ruptured pipe.
Alberta Energy Minister Marg McCuaig- Boyd will meet with the First Nation sometime this week, her press secretary said Monday.
The spill was discovered Wednesday by a contractor walking the route of a 50- centimetre doublewalled pipeline through an area of muskeg.
The pipeline, installed in 2014, was carrying an emulsion of bitumen, process water and sand from Kinosis, a set of well pads about 10 km south of Nexen’s Long Lake facility, to the Long Lake plant.
The pipeline break was shaped like a “fish mouth,” Ron Bailey, Nexen’s senior vice- president of Canadian operations, said Friday. A warning system designed to detect ruptures didn’t work, he said.
The pipeline and pad site were later isolated and shut in. The spill is mostly contained to the pipeline right- of- way.
Nexen said it will continue to work with Alberta Fish and Wildlife and the Alberta Energy Regulator to minimize effects to wildlife. It will put in more deterrents as necessary, it said.
The company said it is developing a comprehensive wildlife mitigation plan that will be shared with the public after it has been approved by the energy regulator.
The AER said Monday the company continues to work on items required for it to comply with an environmental protection order the regulator issued on Friday.
Nexen was acquired by China’s CNOOC Ltd. in 2013.