An aerial view of the spill site. Photo courtesy Sask. government.
*UPDATE – The provincial government says it has been confirmed that the source of the pipeline breach is a Tundra Energy line. The province says purging of the line is beginning today, and the line will be cut and removed as early as tomorrow (Thursday). As of Wednesday afternoon, 174,000 litres of the 200,000 litres of oil that was spilled has been recovered. As well, 185 cubic metres of soil has been removed.
The chief of the Ocean Man First Nation expects a full explanation and a complete and thorough cleanup of a pipeline break that spilled about 200,000 litres of oil on the reserve last week.
On Wednesday, crews were busy about 140 kilometers southeast of Regina: excavating the broken pipe, removing contaminated soil and searching for answers that will be part of a report into what went wrong.
Chief Connie Big Eagle is on site of the cleanup, which is on a frozen slough on a piece of agricultural land. More than 85 per cent of the oil has already been cleaned up.
The chief says once the spill was detected on Friday, the response was quick.
“And we are all working together to try to make things right,” she said.
One troubling question for the chief is why it took a band member to find the leak and report it. Chief Big Eagle says it is not clear how long the pipe was leaking before it was shut down.
“There obviously does have to be an investigation done as to why that leak may have happened days before anyone noticed it.”
Energy Minister Dustin Duncan says that and many other questions will be answered in report into the spill.
“Determining what exactly took place, why did it happen: that will be part of a full investigation that the ministry is leading,” he said.
Tundra Energy of Calgary is leading the clean-up effort.
It has lines in the area of the spill and it is almost certain that it was its pipeline that ruptured. That will be known for sure after the pipe is excavated and examined.