Environment critics are calling for a full independent review of Alberta's aging pipeline system, in the wake of the most recent oil spill near Sundre.

The line that broke last week was built in 1966 and Plains Midstream Canada, the company that owns the pipe, says it should have lasted indefinitely.

"Plains has an excellent top-tier maintenance program and with on-going maintenance, a pipe can have an indefinite life," said Stephen Bart with Plains Midstream Canada.

But critics say the aging pipeline system in Alberta is a serious concern, and could result in more spills like the one seen near Sundre, which spilled around 3,000 barrels of oil into the Red Deer River.

"To try to claim that a pipeline has an indefinite life is atrocious," said Mike Hudema with Greenpeace.

"We have a gigantic network of pipelines in Alberta and a lot of them are extremely aging. That poses an ongoing risk to our environment and to communities throughout this province. It's about time that we got an independent look at how safe those pipelines are, what regulations need to be in place in terms of when these pipelines should be retired to ensure that our communities are safe."

The province will be reviewing the Red Deer River oil spill but critics are urging the government to go further and order a full independent review.

Saskatchewan, which shares some pipelines with Alberta, has been slammed by its auditor general during an investigation into that province's pipelines.

Bonnie Lysyk, Saskatchewan's auditor general noted 25 per cent of Saskatchewan's pipes are 40 years old, the same age as the one that broke near Sundre, and considers age a concern.

"We think that aging pipelines would naturally increase the risk that there is a potential leak or an explosion," Lysyk said.

Hudema says Alberta's leader should be looking into similar aging concerns here.

"They only had 200 spills in Saskatchewan last year. We've had three times that amount here in Alberta and yet our premier seems unconcerned. We need an independent body to look into the pipeline," Hudema said.

Alberta's environment minister isn't ruling out age as a factor in the spill and says age will be looked at as part of the department's review.

"I'm not an expert on that but certainly what the premier asked us to do was to make sure we take a look at this and bring back recommendations if indeed that was one of the things that we need to look at, we'll be looking at all of that," said Diana McQueen, the province's environment minister.

McQueen hopes to review the spill and present recommendations to the premier as soon as possible, but the first concern is to get the Red Deer River cleaned up and that could take months.

Plains Midstream Canada said today that a clean-up crew of 170 people was working on the spill Monday.

With files from Kevin Armstrong