CN Delivers Clean Up Plan

By 250 News

CN has deleivered its environmental clean up plan to the Ministry of the Environment and is expected to start work on that plan at the crash and derailment site in Prince George, Monday.

(photo at right shows burning material  on the bank and in the Fraser River,  shortly after the crash and derailment August 4th in Prince George, photo submitted by Opinion250 reader)

Sean Sharpe, Ministry of Environment Regional Manager Omineca – Peace Region says the railway delivered its clean up plan late yesterday, two days within the time limit set out in an order issued last Friday.  “The plan addresses all the concerns we had pointed out” says Sharpe.

Morrow Environmental will be carrying out the work for CN.

Sharpe says the immediate work will involve the excavation   and removal of soils from the crash site on the east side of the Fraser River, then holes will be drilled to see how deep the contamination from diesel and gasoline seeped . There will be continual monitoring and boom inspection to keep pollutants from making it to the river.

Sharpe says while CN had indicated it intended to  do this work, the orders were delivered to speed up the process “We don’t know if the  contaminants have  made it into the ground water, so I wanted a tighter time table  to reduce the potential of that happening.  We also don’t know if the contaminants have migrated past the site, so test holes will be drilled to see how deep and how wide it went.”

Sharpe says the plan also includes clauses that assure information will be delivered in a timely fashion.  “I expect that will mean if there are changes in containment, problems with the boom, or information indicating the contamination has spread, I would get that information immediately.”  Sharpe says there will be a lot of material sent to laboratories and that will create a flurry of analysis.  “I do expect to receive those reports within a reasonable time.”

How long will it take to complete the clean up work?  Sharpe says that won’t be known until all the tests have been completed to identify the width and depth of the spill of diesel and gasoline.

It is getting too late in the season for CN to carry out the replanting part of the repairs to the bank as would be required by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.  Sharpe says it is likely CN will only be able to stabilize the bank this fall to prevent further erosion.  The replanting program to restore the riparian habitat won’t likely happen until next spring.

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