Scientists plan simulated oil spills in northwestern Ontario

Scientists are planning experimental "oil spills"in northwestern Ontario this summer in an effort to better understand what happens when diluted bitumen winds upin freshwater lakes.

In research with implications for howCanada regulates oil transport by pipelines and rail, ecologists at the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA)east of Kenoraare planning to simulate a series of spills, clean them up and then assess what happens to the water,plants and animals.

• Experimental Lakes Area breathes new life into scientific research

In one set of experiments, diluted bitumen the productmost commonly transported fromAlberta's oil sands will be added to enclosed columns of lake water in different concentrations to see where the oil goes, how it breaks down and what happens to the algae,plankton,invertebrates and fish.

In other experiments, bothconventional crudeand diluted bitumen will be added to shoreline enclosures to see how each type of oil isaffected bywaves and to monitor the residual effects on the environment after the gunkis cleaned up.

The experiments are one of the largest efforts yet to find out what happens after oil winds up in freshwater lakes knowledge scientists say is needed to better inform the national debate about pipelines and the transport of oil by rail.

• Enbridgeto start construction this summer on Line 3 replacement pipeline

"Governments need to regulate the energy sector and this work is providing the science needed to do that," said Jules Blais, a University of Ottawa environmental toxicologistleading the water-column experiment.

"Westill know very little about what this diluted bitumen does under natural scenarios. We can work with these things in the lab and have done so, but when they are exposed to natural mixing, to natural wind, to sunlight [and] to the natural conditions that happen in a boreal setting we need to understand these processes better."

• Call for more spill research not delaying tactic, B.C. NDPsays

In 2015, a Royal Society of Canada panel concluded there's an increasing risk of oil spills in freshwater environments and more research needs to be conducted on bitumen.

"Traditionally, it's been diesel oil or things like that have been involved in spills. But now, in Canada and other countries, we're lookingat things like diluted bitumen and other fossil-fuel mixtures that are coming on line. So those are new challenges that we don't have a lot of information on," said Ken Lee, national senior science adviser for oil-spill research, preparedness and response for Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Ottawa.

"The amount of oil that's beingmoved by rail transport in Canada has increased substantially, so there's much higher risk of spills in freshwater environments."

This provided part of the impetus forthe simulated spillsat ELA, an area of Crown land in the Canadian Shield set aside for environmental research in 1967, now run by the non-profit International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), inWinnipeg.

While ELA is best known for whole-ecosystem research, where the chemistry of entire lakes is altered for the sake of science, this summer'sexperiments will take place within enclosures separated from the surrounding water by impermeable membranes.

"The oil will not get into the lake," said Vince Palace, head research scientist at IISD-ELA, in Winnipeg.

Regulator interested

Palace is heading up the shoreline simulations, which will take place withina rectangular area of lake that includesa section of open shore.

Small quantitiesof both diluted bitumen and conventionalcrude weathered to approximate the conditions of anactual spill will be added and removed after three daysto simulatea spill and cleanup.

Next summer, this experiment will expand to involve different types of shorelines and the addition of nutrients to promote the growth of microbes that break down oil.

• Pipeline leaks due to human error an increasing problem, says NEB

The National Energy Board, which regulates the oil industry, is keenly interested in the results of Palace's work.

"Pipelines are generally terrestrial and any spills are likely to end up in fresh water," said NEB chief environment officer Robert Steedman in Calgary.

"We need to understand what happens to oil that is not cleaned up, what the environmental consequences are and what the natural processes to degrade the oil are."

Scientists planning experimental "oil spills" in northwestern Ontario

6 years ago

Duration 2:10

Scientists are planning experimental "oil spills" in northwestern Ontario this summer in an effort to better understand what happens when diluted bitumen winds up in freshwater lakes.

Scientific rigour

InBlais' experiment, he and his team will addvariousconcentrations of diluted bitumen to seven columns ofwater,likeslarge test tubes inthelake.They willobserve how it reacts with sun and wind,where it winds up in the water and how it affects organisms,from plankton all the way up to fish.

While these experiments are not the first to be conducted in freshwater environments, they add to a body of oil-spill data compiled mostly after actual spills, where scientists had no chance to gather baseline data about the environment.

"The problem with spills is they're accidents. They happen without warning. There's no way to asses the effects prior to when there wasoil," Blais said.

• TransCanadaKeystone pipeline leaks 795,000 litres of crude oil in South Dakota

"We don't have a good sense of where the oil is spilled, where itgoes and how much is spilled. Inorder to this properly, with scientific rigour, we have to do this in a more controlled environment, which is what we're attempting to do."

Canada's oil industry also supports the work.

"Our first preference is we never have spills, but in the rare instancethat there is a spill, we want to have the best science and information available to help us ensure that any cleanup and remediation is done and is as effective as possible," said Terry Abel, executive-vice president with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers in Calgary.

Theexperiments will cost a combined $4.5 million, funded by government, academic and private sources.