Oil Spill Closes Canadian Lake

Officials in the Canadian province of Alberta ordered a lake closed as a water supply after more than 5,000 gallons of oil from a pipeline leaked into it.

The Alberta Environment agency ordered the water shut off and declared the area around the recreational lake off-limits after the leak was detected Sunday night by the Pembina Pipeline Corp., the Calgary Herald reported.

Monday, a boom was placed across the mouth of river at Gleniffer Lake in south-central Alberta, and the company’s district superintendent, Sandy Buchan, told the Herald the oil, estimated at about 5,200 gallons, was too thin to use a skimmer.

It’s a bunch of oil stretched out over many (miles) of the (Red Deer) river so it’s not like great huge pools, Buchan said.

The 6-inch, low-pressure line that leaked runs under the river and was constructed in 2004, the company said.

There was no immediate sign of the oil affecting wildlife, the newspaper said.