By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: Nov. 10, 2012
The exact cause or the sequence of events that led to the oil spill has yet to be determined, but CN Rail has some preliminary idea of what led to spill in the estuary.
CN Rail spokesperson Warren Chandler said a locomotive ran over a broken rail, puncturing the fuel tank and spilling diesel into the estuary near the Squamish Terminal.
The incident happened at 7 a.m. on Thursday.
He said CN is investigating why the rail line was broken. Chandler said ‘some’ diesel spilled on the ground, but didn’t give an exact number in litres.
CN is excavating a 50 foot length of trail, and the soil would be remediated.
Chandler said the spill the leak was swiftly plugged, which contained the spill.
“Environmental experts are working with CN to protect the waterways in the area,” he added.
Chandler said cleaning crews are on sight, and the tracks are expected to be restored in the next couple of days,
Environmentalist John Buchanan said he estimates the fuel capacity for the locomotive to be 19,000 litres.
Writing on Facebook, Buchanan said he felt the majority of the fuel was sitting in the sedge grasses in an area approx. 50 feet long by 20 feet wide.
He said CN should make good use of the sunny weather to start digging and cleaning the affected area in the estuary.
He also said the incident was a reminder of the challenges a commercial transport route could pose in the estuary.
Meanwhile, containment and remediation of the area is being led by CN and Quantum Murray, a hazardous materials company.
Containing the area of the spill with a containment boom, using absorbent pads to soak up the fuel, and digging to remove contaminated soil are some measures being taken.
District Operations crews are also inspecting drainage channels leading from the estuary, and establishing absorb-all tubes along the ditch line to prevent diesel from leaching into the drainage systems.
At this time, the extent of the damage to the estuary is not known.
We are in liaison with CN and we are monitoring the situation closely,” says District of Mayor Rob Kirkham.
In 2005, nine CN Rail cars flipped off the tracks, spilling 40,000 litres of toxic caustic soda into the Cheakamus River.
Hugh Kerr says
Just think about what it would be like if this were the proposed Gateway pipeline: even in the shortest estimated time to shut down the pipeline (11.5 mins) the spill could be 700 cubic metres: i.e. 1 m deep (say) by : 7 m X 100 m ? , or – if it was thinner, say 10 cm, an area like X 7 m X 1 kilometer.
Another measure is that 1 cubic meter = 1000 ( a thousand) liters, so 700 cubic meters is 700,000 liters.
Trevor Mills says
CN just cancelled the Squamish yard job and the Squamish Terminals switching job must be done by the mainline crews. The issue is that the Squamish yard crew would use one or two lighter locomotives to do the work. Now the mainline crews take up to 4 heavier road locomotives down that track. The lighter rail on the siding stressed out under the weight of the heavier locomotives.
Don Patrick says
Sure can stir up the folks… firstly one car leaked into the Cheakamus, there have been tank cars on the ground in the canyon since the 1920’s. And I understand that leaking car was because of the improper tightning of the Bung by an person. Want to compare issues, do you know how many B-trains go thru Vancouver proper streets during the drag race hours with 50,000 litres of high-test which is an explosive commodity ? Picture yourself sleeping in one the major hotels or condo’s when the incident happens. This estuary incident is just that.. an incident, but some will want to make “hay” over it. Waste of time and energy.