Report critical of Husky response to spill
An independent study of the Husky oil spill says the company delayed response and was not transparent after thousands of litres of crude dumped into the North Saskatchewan River. But the company says the report contains a number of errors.
The assessment was conducted by Utah-based non-profit group E-Tech International and Resurgence Environmental, on behalf of several groups including Idle No More, the Council of Canadians, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, and the Public Service Alliance of Canada. In the report, assessors said a more immediate response would have kept the oil from travelling as far as it did.
Hydrogeologist Ricardo Segovia, one of the report’s authors, said the effects of an oil spill in Kalamazoo, Mich. in 2010 showed the need for an immediate response.
“The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) said that the submerged portion of the oil needs to be attacked aggressively and immediately. Because they saw it doesn’t take long for the oil to start submerging, and some of it ends up at the bottom of the river as well in the sediments,” Segovia said.