Tundra Energy Marketing dealing with second Saskatchewan oil spill

Tundra Energy Marketing Ltd. (TEML), the Calgary-based company handling a pipeline spill that saw 200,000 litres of crude leaked onto First Nations farmland in Saskatchewan, is now dealing with another, albeit much smaller, oil spill.

On Wednesday night, the National Energy Board issued a news release saying it was responding to a release of crude oil at the company’s Ingoldsby terminal near the village of Storthoaks, Sask., approximately 260 kilometres southeast of Regina.

READ MORE: Questions arise over pipeline leak detection following Saskatchewan oil spill

The release said the NEB is working to verify Tundra’s initial report filed Tuesday that 5,000 litres of crude oil was released and contained on company property, with 4,000 of it being recovered.

“And subsequent to that Tundra has trucked away about two truckloads of snow; most of the oil spilled onto the snow,” Tom Neufeld, a NEB spokesperson, said.

“And right now two NEB inspectors are going to the site. What they’re going to do is they’ll examine the site and make sure that any reclamation that needs to be done or any environmental damage that’s occurred has to be reclaimed and cleaned up.”

There were no injuries, no fire, no nearby residences were evacuated and no threat to public safety.

The government of Saskatchewan and the Transportation Safety Board were notified.

“Any deregulated company is accountable for how it performs and how safe it’s pipeline is,” Neufeld said.

“So we do hold the company accountable for this and with any incident we’re going to ensure the company took all the right measures to protect their employees, protect the public and protect the environment.”

The site is federally regulated because it’s part of a network of pipelines that crosses provincial boundaries, Neufeld said. The pipeline that leaked was last inspected in July, he said.

Tundra is still dealing with the pipeline spill discovered Jan. 20 on Ocean Man First Nation territory.

That spill is under investigation by the Saskatchewan government which is trying to determine why the pipeline’s leak detection system did not flag the leak.

READ MORE: Human error a growing factor in pipeline leaks: National Energy Board

The government also said it determined the pipeline was nearly 50 years old and there was no record of it ever being inspected by provincial authorities.

“TEML is working closely with regulatory bodies and and Ocean Man First Nation to determine the cause of the incident,” the company said in a statement on its website last week.

“Free-standing product has been removed from the site along with vegetation and contaminants. TEML will continue to work with all governing bodies throughout the remaining phases of the clean up.”

READ MORE: Anatomy of an oil spill

The NEB said it will verify that Tundra conducts an adequate and appropriate clean-up and remediation of any environmental effects caused by Tuesday’s spill.

An NEB investigation into the incident is underway, and NEB staff will follow up with Tundra to determine the root cause of the incident.

With files from Global News