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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

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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