Over one million litres (1,060 cubic meters) of bitumen emulsion has leaked to the surface at the CNRL Primrose and Wolf Lake sites, with over 344 cubic meters of impacted oily vegetation also collected as of Aug. 2, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER)
As of Aug. 9, bitumen emulsion continues to seep to the surface from four sites at a combined rate of about 20 barrels per day, according to the AER.
“The investigation is on-going. Bitumen is still coming up to the surface,” said AER spokesperson Cara Tobin. “(Investigations) are very comprehensive processes that involve a lot of detailed technical work. We often get in third party consultants to verify the data that is submitted to us, while we verify the data ourselves.”
A media report Aug. 9 stated that Wolf Lake was affected by the leaks, but Tobin was quick to deny that, saying that bitumen emulsion had not affected that particular lake. However, the regulator confirmed bitumen emulsion has seeped into an unnamed body of water on the site.
Officials from CNRL, the AER and Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development continue to work at the site with clean-up efforts on-going.
Bonnyville Mayor Ernie Isley, who participated in a tour of the effected sites on Aug. 8, feels the clean-up efforts are going great and that the company is being “super-responsible”.
“This is the cost of doing business,” said Isley. The company is “expending a lot of money and a lot of resources to find out the source of the leaks and fix it. You never want to see this happen but you're in this business and there will be equipment failures and machine break downs.”
As of Aug. 9, the AER was unwilling to put a timeframe on the investigation.
“The release is still on-going so it is really, very, very early in this process,” said Tobin.