Company faces lawsuit over Alberta spill

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CALGARY, Alberta, June 25 (UPI) -- A law firm in Calgary said it launched a $75 million class action suit against a pipeline company for an early June oil spill into the Red Deer River.

Plains Midstream Canada reported a leak from its Rangeland pipeline system June 7 in Alberta. The pipeline wasn't in service at the time of the incident, though an estimated 3,000 barrels of oil leaked before the system was shutdown.

Merchant Law Group, a Canadian law firm, filed a $75 million class-action suit against Plains Midstream in response to the spill.

"If you transport a dangerous product, you are strictly liable for the dangerous product," lawyer Tony Merchant was quote by the Calgary Sun as saying. "If something goes wrong you have to pay compensation."

The newspaper notes that around two dozen people have come forward as members in the suit. There was no public comment available from Plains Midstream.

Plains said more than 200 personnel were at the site of the spill near Sundre, Alberta, using absorbent materials, skimmers and containment booms to collect spilled oil.

The Red Deer River was flooding at the time of the spill and most of the oil was isolated to a downstream reservoir.