Guilty plea lands Nexen $460 000 penalty for Long Lake pipeline spill
Alberta - July 13, 2018Nexen has been ordered to pay $460 000 as a result of a July 2015 spill from a pipeline associated with the company’s Long Lake oil sands facility. Today, the company pleaded guilty in provincial court to one count under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act.
The penalty includes a fine of almost $20 000, with the remaining amount (roughly $440 000) to be directed to creative sentencing, split evenly between funding a learning centre that will establish best practices to limit the impact of pipeline spills on wetlands and expanding an existing environmental sciences degree program for indigenous youth.
The penalty follows a number of regulatory actions that have been taken by the AER since the spill to bring Nexen into compliance with all requirements. For more details, read our news release.
Jordan Fitzgerald, Writer