The B.C. Oil and Gas commission has released its final report on the Encana gas leak near Dawson Creek last November.
The OGC has completed its investigation into the Nov. 22, 2009 sour gas leak at a wellsite in Pouce Coupe. The final version corrects a discrepancy in the time a 911 call was placed, since the call went through the Prince George centre. The centre recorded the time based on Pacific Standard Time when the call came in from the Peace River region which was on Mountain Standard Time when the incident occurred.
The report outlines that because of the time zone difference, there is not enough evidence to show that there were flaws in the response times between the RCMP and Encana. The original report showed more than an hour’s difference of when the emergency call was received to when police and Encana officials responded. However, the new findings show the actual time lapse was only about 15 minutes.
The Encana sour gas leak was determined to have been caused by erosion in the piping.
In conjunction with its final report, the OGC has also issued certain industry-wide directives for industry officials operating in B.C. The directives include establishing programs to monitor erosion and corrosion and discussing emergency procedures with local emergency personnel.
Furthermore, the Ministry of the Environment has filed two charges against the corporation. EnCana is charged with introducing business-related waste into the environment and failing to report a spill of a polluting substance.
Company officials are set to appear in court in Dawson Creek on Dec. 7.
