By Bryan Eneas

JSCN fears foam on Sask. River could be reoccurring hydrocarbons

Sep 1, 2017 | 5:01 PM

Over one year ago, the James Smith Cree Nation (JSCN) started reporting a foamy substance appearing in their waters and it has appeared once again.

The JSCN territory stretches across a portion of the Saskatchewan River. A hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering ban was put into place by Chief and Council last year for safety concerns, affecting the livelihood of many individuals who rely on the river for food or medicine.

Now, new video footage provided to paNOW from the Cree Nation shows a similar substance flowing down the Saskatchewan River.

“We’re still seeing hydrocarbons and it’s concerning because the hydrocarbons are being released by the warming of the riverbed,” JSCN Chief Wally Burns said.

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A 100 foot and 50 foot boom were placed in the river and are containing the brown foam floating on top of the water. More booms will be set up throughout the weekend, Burns said.

The chief said the community is still engaged in dialogues with Husky Energy regarding clean-up from last year. Now, the band plans to have future talks with the energy giant to find out what happens with the latest discovery.  

Officials with JSCN said they’ve noticed lower than normal levels of wild and aquatic life around the Saskatchewan River this year.

Next week teams will further monitor the river, and plan on setting out upstream to see what other areas may be impacted.

“We continue to talk with the James Smith Cree Nation,” a Husky official told paNOW. “I would add that foam is naturally occurring in the river system.”

In an email to paNOW, the Water Security Agency said the agency is not aware of any new contamination along the North Saskatchewan River, and no spills have been reported in the last 24 hours. The email statement said foam can naturally occur in the Saskatchewan River system naturally, due to certain weather conditions.

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On twitter: @BryanEneas