June 13, 2013
EDMONTON – New Democrat Environment and Sustainable Resources critic Rachel Notley is calling on the PC government to immediately release its pipeline safety review after the Apache Canada spill was confirmed as the largest in Alberta’s history.
“This government can’t be trusted to protect our air and water. It took the government and the ERCB more than ten days to confirm the volume and affected area of this spill, and that response is simply unacceptable,” said Notley. “The government has been hiding its pipeline safety report since last year, and today I’m once again calling on the government to stop hiding this information from Albertans and to release the report.”
The pipeline safety report was commissioned in July 2012 and was completed in December 2012, but Energy Minister Ken Hughes says he is not prepared to release its findings.
“Albertans have a right to know what the government is doing to protect the environment and our health and safety, and the PCs are just sitting on this vital information,” said Notley. “In the wake of the Apache spill catastrophe, there can be no more excuses not to release this report.”
The Alberta New Democrats have called on the government to double enforcement and monitoring activities to ensure that industry lives up to their legal responsibilities.
