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A frustrated Premier is speaking out a day before he tours the areas impacted by the oil spill in the north Saskatchewan river.
It comes as Husky clarifies what it knew about the leaking pipeline and when it knew it.
Brad Wall contends that nothing is off the table when it comes to investigating the incident, an event he isn’t happy about.
“There’s been a spill and people are without water in Saskatchewan, no I’m not satisfied, I don’t think anybody should be, I don’t think Husky is satisfied, they better not be,” Wall stated.
And what exactly happened is still being investigated and hasn’t always been clear.
Husky is offering some further clarification about what it filed with government, and what it actually knew Wednesday night.
The energy company now says at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday what they call “pressure anomolies” at several segments of the pipeline system were seen. It isn’t clear what that means but they are said to be common.
Husky maintains it began to organize aerial surveillance for the morning and it continued to monitor the situation overnight. As a precaution the system was shutdown at 6:00 a.m. Thursday.
That’s when reports of a sheen on the water first came in. The emergency response plan kicked-in and crews were dispatched to the site. It was then Husky confirmed 200-250 cubic metres of oil had spilled.
Husky has taken full responsibility for the spill. And compensation will be forthcoming although it is not clear when.
Recently Wall has been a vocal proponent of pipelines, and he is frustrated that has been the focus rather than what he says is really important in this oil spill.
“In this case we need to make sure that drinking water is available, that potable water is available to communities affected by this, that is the first challenge, I said that as my first response, then I talked about pipeline safety, but that is the only bit that got the coverage,” Wall maintained.
Provincial, federal and Husky officials remain on the ground as the containment and clean-up process continues.
“Those on the frontline, including local leaders, are saying that Husky has been forthcoming in the response and that would be my observation”, Wall said. “I think we will know more after the event as to what could perhaps have been done differently, and we will be asking those questions.”
Wall was planning to see firsthand the clean-up work and talk to those impacted, but the mayors of North Battleford and Prince Albert have deferred his visit for the time being. The mayors said they told the government they’re satisfied with the provincial relief efforts and just want to focus on their individual responses right now. On Tuesday, interim Opposition leader Trent Wotherspoon toured Prince Albert’s recovering efforts and met with leaders there, including Mayor Greg Dionne.
