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Alberta regulator criticizes pipeline company for 2012 oil leak

Tracks pass through oil on the banks of the Gleniffer reservoir after a pipeline leak near Sundre, Alta., on Friday, June 8, 2012. Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press

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.

READ MORE: ‘Dark-coloured crude oil up on the trees’: The Red Deer River spill, one year later

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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.

READ MORE: What it’s like when oil runs through your backyard

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

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

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