Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, in 1989 when the Legislative Assembly was sitting in Norman Wells, myself and some of my colleagues had a chance to visit the Esso refinery and the interprovincial pipeline pumping stations in Norman Wells to see how they do things. Some of us even had a chance to fly over the right-of-way to see the reclamation work that was done and the hillside stabilization program that they put in place. To say the least, Madam Speaker, I was quite impressed with the technology being used to monitor the entire pumping and pipeline system that IPL was using. I was even amazed to learn that the pressure and flow was monitored so closely that if a barrel of oil was spilled accidentally or, in some cases, deliberately in a test, this could be detected and attended to at once. The pipeline would immediately shut down if they lost pressure of even a small amount.
I believe that in the past 10 years or more since the pipeline had been instituted, there have been only a couple of minor oil spills; certainly no major ones that we're aware of. Those minor ones were quickly detected, and clean-up was taken care of almost immediately. I compliment IPL and Esso for their attention to such an important area.
Today, my colleagues and I were shocked to learn that a major, major oil spill has occurred in northern Russia, where tens of thousands of barrels of crude oil escaped before the flow was detected and stopped. And, Madam Speaker, that was only the start of this potential environmental disaster: the copper dams that were built to contain the spill were breached when heavy rains raised levels of oil and fluids behind the dam and sent the oil into the river system that has the possibility of emptying into Arctic waters.
Madam Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to continue.