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Wall promises full spill investigation following N.B. meeting

Aug 3, 2016 | 2:17 PM

Premier Brad Wall says the government will have to wait for an investigation to determine the cause of the Husky Energy pipeline rupture that spilled oil into the North Saskatchewan River, but also determine requirements for self-inspection and regulation when it comes to discovering leaks.

“We’ll see how that came to bear in this particular pipeline. But I want to highlight the fact that we have removed other duties from those inspecting, and we did it prior to this event so that we could have them focus solely on the safety on the pipeline system in the province,” he said.

Wall added the investigation also applies to the differing reports from Husky about when the company first detected evidence of a pipeline rupture. Physical evidence of oil leaking into the North Saskatchewan River was first found the morning of July 21, but changes in pressure were detected the previous evening.

Today, August 3, was Wall’s first visit to northern Saskatchewan since the spill. During his visit, Wall met with environment and government relations ministers along with North Battleford city officials.

“This is very serious. And so we’re going to take the matter very seriously, obviously not just in response but in review so that we can prevent something like this from happening again,” Wall said.

Earlier in the day Husky released the first report on water sample testing in the days since the spill July 21. It found that out of more than 900 samples, only five exceeded Health Canada’s guidelines for hydrocarbons in drinking water, and those five were taken within 20 km of the spill location within the first three days. Wall said it was important to ensure that testing continues and the results are accurate, and to let people know if any future samples come back exceeding the guidelines.

North Battleford mayor Ian Hamilton said while the samples are a positive sign, the report doesn’t change the city’s plans for a 12-month program to use not only excess water from the town of Battleford but additional wells and an oil filtration system.

“We don’t have the ability, or the confirmation from the Water Security Agency that we will be able to put back into operation the F.E. Holliday Water Treatment Plant from surface water without pre-filtration and that sort of thing,” Hamilton said.

Wall said he had not been invited to speak at a forum on oil pipelines planned for Thursday in North Battleford, despite his name appearing on the agenda.

 

Geoff Smith is battlefordsNOW’s News Director, business and agriculture reporter. He can be reached at geoff.smith@jpbg.ca or tweet him @smithco.