Regina – Drinking water is the number one priority, according to Premier Brad Wall, who spoke at length on July 27 about the Husky oil spill on the North Saskatchewan River.
That spill became evident the morning of July 21, after monitoring systems detected anomalies the evening before. (See related story Page A3)
Wall spoke to reporters at the Legislature in Regina. His intended visit to North Battleford and Prince Albert was put off until later as the administrations of those cities were tied up with dealing directly with the spill.
Wall said he’s been in contact with mayors and a First Nations Chief at Cumberland House, asking what resources they need.
“Husky has said they are going to be responsible for the financial costs of all this, and I expect that to be the case,” he said, pointing out that in some cases, businesses like car washes and laundromats in Prince Albert have had to shut down operations.
He reiterated that his initial response, when the leak was first made public, was “Our concern should be the response.”
“In this case, we need make sure that drinking water is available, that potable water is available to communities.”
He took umbrage to media coverage on July 22, which focused on his follow up comments on pipeline safety and not his statements on drinking water.
“Our number one concern right now is the response. We’ll get into the debate about pipelines versus rail or about how we move oil across this country at a later date. But for now, I think we should just set it aside.”
Asked about ecological damage, he said, “That’s what we’re trying to get a handle on. The first duty of government and Husky and the municipalities is to respond, to make sure people have potable water. We have a lot of folks in the RM of P.A. who don’t have water.”
Husky has offered to provide potable water, Wall said, in cooperation with the government and municipalities. “That’s got to be the first, immediate response for all of us, but you bet we’ll need to get a handle on what the ecological impact is on that river.
“Saskatchewan’s waters, our lakes and our rivers, our habit is precious to all of us. There’s an economic element to it, but it’s our environment. It’s our habitat, and Saskatchewan people put a high priority on it. So we need to determine the long term ecological impact to the extent there is one, and the best way to clean it up.”
Government agencies are tapping into “worldwide experience” to deal it. “We’ve got to have complete restoration and rehabilitation in terms of habitat and ecology along the North Saskatchewan River,” Wall said.
Asked about the speed and effectiveness of Husky’s response, Wall said, “There’s been a spill, and people are without water in Saskatchewan. No, I’m not satisfied. I don’t think anyone should be. I don’t think Husky’s satisfied. They better not be. We need to find out all of the details around the situation. They’ve indicated they want to find out the details. As you know, they want to find out all the details. We have a pretty rigorous process in place. I want to share with you that in the last budget, we took away duties from those pipeline inspecting so they could focus on inspections. We have 24 in the field and three in Regina whose focus is just inspections.”
He noted companies like Husky drive the line and use “smart pigs” to monitor pipelines.
Wall thinks Husky’s taking financial responsibility was the right step to take.
“Husky bears the responsibility here financially, in terms of response, they’ve indicated a willingness to take that responsibility and we accept that position,” he said.
Setting aside the 14 hours it took from initial indications there was a problem to shutting down the line, Wall said, “Once the leak was known, their actual physical response to the issue, cooperating with government, cooperating with municipalities, I can’t put my finger on some egregious error or misjudgement that I would say they’ve made, or that officials are telling me they made. Now, we’re going to wait and go through, after the fact, the response from all agencies.”
Wall’s office reached out to the highest levels of Husky management to ensure they, in turn, reached out to mayors.
The Saskatchewan Water Security Agency is unable to give an estimate, through no fault of their own, to give a more accurate estimation of how long interim measures for potable water will be needed, he explained, added that measures taken by some municipalities have a “shelf life,” as reservoirs will empty.
Wall promised those affected will have the support of the province. Due to a number of disasters in recent years, the province has an inventory of water storage bladders and pumps that can be used.
Asked for a message to those affected, Wall responded, “This is not an optimal situation. It’s a terrible situation, caused by a spill. The government will be there, and so will their neighbours. That’s what Saskatchewan is all about.”
NDP Leader Trent Wotherspoon said, “It sickens and saddens me to no end where we had this period of time where this oil continued to spill into the river. It bothers me to no end the actual response that was put up didn’t have adequate backup.”
