An oil spill into a major Canadian river from a Husky Energy Inc pipeline started last Wednesday evening and crews did not arrive on site until the following morning, the company said on Tuesday.
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It appears Husky Energy knew something was amiss with one of its oil pipelines about 14 hours before the Saskatchewan government was notified.
North Battleford in Saskatchewan had to shut down its water intake plant on 22 July due to a pipeline oil spill.
Roughly 200 to 250 cubic metres of oil (200,000 to 250,000 litres) are estimated to have spilled.
As a precaution Husky made a decision to start pipeline shutdown procedures around 6 a.m. on July 21, and later that morning received reports of a sheen on the river.
The leading edge of the oil plume passed Prince Albert early Monday afternoon, having travelled about 370 kilometres from the spill site near Maidstone, where the discharge was detected early Thursday morning.
Prince Albert declared a state of local emergency Monday morning as crews worked to establish a fresh water pipeline stretching to the South Saskatchewan River, which will supply water to the city once reserves are depleted.
“The goal would be to have it operational on Friday”, Toye said.
“It’s not going to be a short-term event”, Sam Ferris with Saskatchewan’s Water Security Agency said Monday. The surface water plant was shut down July 21, and by July 22, the city ordered water conservation measures be put into place, including shutting down auto washes and laundromats, as well as lawn watering.
He added thanks to residents and businesses conserving water, the city’s supply of water in its reservoir is more than 50 per cent full, in far better shape than they expected. By July 25, the city was looking at temporary measures where they would draw water from the Battle River on the south side of Battleford.
Lo Cheng with the federal department Environment and Climate Change Canada, said it’s investigating whether Husky broke any laws.
The oil slick is known to have killed four birds, one fish and one frog, Kotyk said on the conference call.
Diluent from the Lloydminster Terminal is received at the pumping stations and is used to blend the heavy crude before it’s pumped to the terminal. “We need further time just to assess the existence of any oil or globules of oil that may be suspended in the water column”, he added.
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The Husky executive, who said he had not seen the incident report, struggled to answer why it took Husky until the next day to respond to the irregularities and said there would be an investigation into the leak. “We don’t want anyone thinking this doesn’t apply to them”.
