Suncor teRMINAL facility in Rimouski, queBEC leaked
thousands of litres of gasoline
City officials say there's no threat of explosion as
cleanup continues
Posted:Jan 02, 2015 7:13 AM ET
Last Updated:Jan 02, 2015 4:33 PM ET
The gas leak at Suncor's Rimouski, Que., terminal
started early Thursday evening. Radio-Canada
Thousands of litres of gasoline leaked from a Suncor
facility in Rimouski, Que., on Thursday evening, said a spokesman with the
company.
Residents living near the facility called police to
complain about a strong gas smell.
Staff found a small crack in a valve near a reservoir
that held two million litres of gasoline.
The workers have diverted the gas into another
reservoir, containing 1.6 million litres of the gas.
Claude Schink, the facility's supervisor, expects the
cleanup will continue pumping fuel until 2 p.m. ET Friday.
Schink told a news conference the company does not have
a number on how much fuel was spilled, but said the crack in the valve was
small.
So far, 30,000 litres of foam, water and gasoline
have been vacuumed from the site.
Leak safely contained, says Suncor
The design of the Suncor terminal includes a secondary
containment area, which is where the gasoline that leaked has been collected.
Suncor has a vacuum truck on site and has been
pumping gasoline from the containment dyke.
A team of government agencies are on the site, including
Quebec’s environmental agency, firefighters, public works, Suncor, and Quebec’s
provincial police.
'Citizens shouldn't be the alert system of a company.'-
Patrick Bonin, Greenpeace
Crews are working to collect the gas and put it into
tanker trucks. Firefighters have set up a 300-metre perimeter around the leak
area.
A spokesman for the city of Rimouski said its first
priority is to ensure the safety of citizens. So far, there have been
no evacuations. Its second priority is making sure the spill is cleaned up
with minimal impact to the environment.
Schink said an investigation will look into how the
gas leaked and why Suncor workers didn't discover the leak first.
Reason to be wary, says Greenpeace
A spokesman for the Greenpeace environmental
group says it shouldn't be up to local residents to keep the area safe.
“How long would it have lasted if citizens were not
there? Citizens shouldn't be the alert system of a company,” said spokesman
Patrick Bonin.
As Quebec looks at allowing more oil to be transported
through the province through the Energy East Pipeline Project, Greenpeace says
this leak is a sign people should be wary.
“The math is simple: The more we transport, explore,
exploit, store oil, the more risk we face, the more risk the community faces,”
said Bonin.