Canada Oil Spills

Introduction

Businesses are not perfect. Bad planning, not following norms and procedures, and just a case can unwittingly damage an environment and harm people. In the January 20th and 31st, 2017 Tundra Energy Marketing Limited oil spills in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada is a more recent example of an unintentional mischief. Previously reported oil spills events reported by media took place on March 15, 2012 (598 barrels), March 31, 2012 (755 barrels), January 7, 2013 (500 barrels), and February 4, 2015 (1200 barrels) in the province of Manitoba, Canada on pipelines owned by Tundra Oil and Gas Limited. In spite of the fact that the names of the companies are different, it should be noted that previously, Tundra Energy Marketing Limited has been operating as the division of Tundra Oil and Gas Limited and was organized as a separate entity only in 2011. Moreover, both companies are the subsidiary of a private, family-owned, James Richardson & Sons Limited Corporation. So, it is possible that the style of management, the best practice, and old problems of Tundra Oil and Gas Limited spilled over to Tundra Energy Marketing Limited creating industrial accidents and leading to environmental disasters on latter days. The purpose of this work is to analyze the incidents that happened in January, 2017 with Tundra Energy Marketing Limited; the subsidiary of James Richardson & Sons Limited Corporation, in light of Steven Fink's four-stage model of crisis and its management.

Preceding James Richardson & Sons Limited oil spill incidents

On March 15, 2012, 598 barrels of oil spilled out of the Tundra Oil and Gas Limited pipeline north of Highway 257, covering 0.05 acres (Kives & Agnes, 2013, August 19).

On March 31, 2012, the failure of the Tundra Oil and Gas Limited flow line near the town of Cromer, Manitoba, Canada resulted in 755 barrels of oil leaking out and damaging 0.05 acres of soil (Kives & Agnes, 2013, August 19).

In January 2013, around 500 barrels of oil spilled out from the pipeline owned by Tundra Oil and Gas Limited, south of Highway 255 near the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border. According to the website Pipeline Observer (Manitoba’s dark secret, 2013, April 12), only the correspondent of The Brandon Sun, Graeme Bruce (2013, March 23), reported this problem. Ten days of unnoticed leaking created an oil lake the size of two football fields.

On February 5, 2015, a break in the Tundra Oil and Gas Limited underground pipeline caused the leak of 1200 barrels of oil and salt water, contaminating the farmland near the town of Waskada, Manitoba, Canada (Savard, 2015, March 18).

Recent James Richardson & Sons Limited oil spill incidents

Tundra Energy Marketing Limited’s oil spill on January 20, 2017

On January 20, 2017, Clint