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Scramble to clean up oil spill Cambridge Bay incident could have been worse after vandals opened valve
Danielle Sachs
Northern News Services
Published Monday, June 24, 2013
IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY
Employees with Kitnuna Corp. have been working around the clock since June 14 to clean up a spill at the company's Cambridge Bay site.
At least three Kitnuna Corp. employees at a time have been working to clean up an oil spill in Cambridge Bay. - photo courtesy of Alex Tooke |
A valve on a fuel tank containing waste motor oil was opened, spilling approximately 1,700 litres of oil onto the surrounding area.
Since then, the spill has been mostly cleaned up and the contaminated soil removed, but Alex Tooke, resident manager, says booms and equipment will be on hand all summer just in case there's any residue left.
The spill was discovered on June 14, when someone walked by and saw the oil, which was apparently caused by vandals who opened the valve. While no one wanted a spill to happen, Tooke said all things considering, it could have been much worse.
"We had a lot of things in our favour," said Tooke. "The wind direction and ice really helped reduce the amount of damage that was done to the environment."
The waste oil in the tank comes from different companies who change the motor oil in their equipment, either light vehicles, heavy equipment or generators, said Tooke.
Initially there was no lock on the valve. Since then, everything on the site has been locked down.
"This valve, you'd have to work really hard to get to it," said Tooke.
"We have gone and locked everything. We can't stop them from breaking windows on the vehicles, but there's no homeowner that would be able to lock up their house as secure as this."
Because Kitnuna has fuel and remediation contracts, the company has a lot of spill material on hand and Tooke said others in the area that had spill equipment or pads were more than willing to stop by and help contribute to the clean-up efforts.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the GN's Department of Environment, the Martin Bergmann Research Vessel and Cambridge Bay staff all responded to help clean up before too much damage was done.
Kitnuna Corp. is an Inuit-owned company that specializes in project management, building supplies, environmental remediation like Dew line cleanups and fuel services.
The waste oil tank holds 11,000 litres of oil, which is recycled to generate heat and energy for buildings, instead of shipping it south for disposal.
The RCMP have identified a youth as a possible suspect in the incident.
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