If Husky Energy reacted sooner to an oil spill in the North Saskatchewan River, downstream drinking water likely wouldn’t have been affected, according to a co-author of an independent report on the incident.
“They would have been able to contain the spill in the first few kilometers of that river stretch,” Segovia added.
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The report states there was a 14-hour delay in response to the spill, however a Husky spokesperson pushed back against the findings Friday and said “that there are a number of basic errors” within the report.
A timeline provided days after the spill by the Calgary-based company states “the pipeline monitoring system indicated pressure anomalies” hours before a sheen was reported on the river. A pipe near Maidstone had spilled an estimated 225,000 liters of blended crude oil, some of which entered the river.
“Our response was immediate upon discovery of the leak and was informed by the responsible provincial and federal regulators as well as the foremost scientists and experts in the field,” Husky Energy spokesperson Mel Duvall said in an emailed statement Friday.
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In an interview, Segovia said “one doesn’t detect abnormalities in pressure unless something’s happening to that oil. So there had to be something leaking out of the pipe when they first detected the anomaly.”
“Those were very critical hours in determining how far the oil would go,” he added.
The E-Tech report was commissioned by concerned indigenous and non indigenous groups near the spill, according to Segovia. He added that the visitors spoke with area residents and took water samples during a four-day visit to the province in mid-August.
Segovia said he expected his group to return to Saskatchewan in the coming weeks for additional testing.
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