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Ottawa will soon decide if CN will be charged over Alberta oil spill: Dion

August 11, 2005 - 21:25

WABABUN, Alta. (CP) - Ottawa will decide within days if it will take legal action against Canadian National over an oil spill that has fouled the water supply of this popular resort community, says the federal environment minister.

Stephane Dion toured the oil-soaked lake west of Edmonton by helicopter Thursday and walked along a sailing club beach blackened with a thick, gooey ooze. "I will have to make a decision under the Fisheries Act or under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act," he said as a nearby vacuum truck tried to suck up some of the tarry mess.

"It is so sad what has happened."

Meanwhile, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein said the province deserves any criticism it gets over the way the incident has been handled.

He said he has ordered Environment Minister Guy Boutillier to draft a disaster plan for lakefront properties.

"I fault the province and I fault the railway," Klein said at the premiers meeting in Banff.

"We didn't have a disaster plan in place. The booms (to block oil slicks from spreading) had to be brought in from elsewhere. Unlike the coastal provinces we don't have booms in place because we never anticipated something of this nature ever happening."

Klein also wants assurances that railways or trucking companies have environmental disaster plans for accidents near water.

"If they don't, we will have as a government, a disaster plan in place that we will implement ... and charge (the cleanup costs) back to the company," he said.

Dion called CN's response to the Aug. 3 spill of bunker C oil and a potentially cancerous pole-treating oil inadequate.

He said if he owned a home in the area, he would be just as angry as the residents who have been advised by health officials not to use water from the lake or nearby wells.

"Working with Alberta Environment we discovered the information we received was not accurate, that it was much more serious than CN communicated officially and to the population," he said.

"Something did not work as it should have."

Dion made his remarks after having a private meeting with a small delegation of residents from the area.

One of those residents, Bill Van Rassell, said he showed the minister a copy of a CN bill of lading for the derailed tanker car that was carrying the potentially toxic pole-treating oil.

The document is dated Aug. 2, the day before the derailment and spill. It states the tanker car was carrying material labelled petroleum lubricating oil and Imperial pole treating oil.

Van Rassell said the document, which he obtained from a CN employee, is further proof the company knew about the spill of hazardous material well before it told government officials and residents of the area.

"This is pretty disturbing," Van Rassell said. "They knew what was on the train when it was loaded. They knew when the train crashed what was on it. We were misled."

CN spokesman Jim Feeny said the document, which he said appears to be a bill of lading, has been reviewed by CN.

Feeny said it is more detailed than the cargo manifest carried on the train that CN officials referred to when they responded to the spill.

He said the manifest does not list the pole treating oil because it is not considered to be a dangerous commodity under federal law.

"The document we were shown is not the document that is carried on the train," Feeny said. "We rely on the train manifest to respond to incidents like this."

Dion said Ottawa is also considering a review of railway regulations in light of the Wabamun derailment and another CN train accident this month near Squamish, B.C. that dumped toxic sodium hydroxide into the Cheakamus River.

The issue of train speed limits is a particular concern, he said.

"We need to sit and look at that. Do we need tougher regulations to be sure the trains will not go as fast as they are going now?"

A scientist who is closely monitoring the cleanup said he is optimistic the Lake Wabamun area will bounce back from the oil spill.

David Schindler, a University of Alberta water expert, said water in the area will probably be declared safe to drink again soon.

He also said the lake could largely recover from the spill within about two years.

"Based on the most recent samples there won't be any big toxic effect," he said.

"My prediction is we will see Alberta health lifting this water advisory within a few days."