It had all happened very suddenly. It only took a few days for gas stations to run dry. The province warned everyone not to panic as they raced to secure fuel via truck and rail.

On a Sunday in March, Winnipeggers found out our main gasoline, diesel and jet fuel pipeline had been shut down — and would stay that way for months. 

The good news? Nothing had spilled. 

Imperial Oil had shut the pipeline down proactively after its inspectors noticed the shifting banks of the Red River were putting strain on the decades-old pipes. Understandably, everyone was focused on the supply chain, but I had other questions. 

How serious were these safety concerns? What — and when — did the province know about them? What was being done to keep land and water safe?

I rattled off a handful of freedom of information requests (five in all). Months later, the responses started trickling in — and there was a surprise. 

My request for four years’ worth of inspection reports for the pipeline had turned up … nothing. 

Weird, right? Yeah … I thought so too.

Many, many phone calls and emails later, the picture started coming together. Government inspectors had visited the pipeline a few times, but hadn’t formally documented any inspections. There were some years no one from the government had visited the pipeline at all. 

I dug up provincial spill records stretching back to 2008. A lot of number crunching later, I found some 6.5 million litres of oil and related fluids had leaked from Manitoba’s pipelines in the last 16 years. Not a single company had been fined. 
 

There’s an important caveat here: Manitoba’s oilpatch is small. There are just a fraction of the pipes and wells you’d find in, say, Alberta. But oil still brings in a lot of money for Manitoba, and it seemed the province had few eyes on this messy, billion-dollar business.

The department eventually confirmed it lets industry take the lead on monitoring. As one expert put it, Manitoba has been letting industry “mark its own homework.” 

That comes with risks. As we’ve seen time and time again, it only takes one spill to make a big impact. 

Auditors across the country have urged governments to step up pipeline monitoring and enforcement. In many cases, that’s led to change. Not so in Manitoba. 

Manitoba’s new environment minister told me the government was itself pretty surprised by the oversight “gaps” it found after the Imperial pipeline shut down. The government has already made a few policy changes and says it’s looking to keep improving. 

There’s still a lot of work to do to ensure the oil industry is effectively regulated in Manitoba. I’ll be keeping an eye on what steps the government takes next.
 
Take care and watch out for leaks,

Julia-Simone Rutgers
Manitoba reporter

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