By Bryan Eneas

Clean-up crews keep an eye on James Smith post Husky spill

Oct 25, 2017 | 3:31 PM

It’s well past the one year mark since the Husky oil spill, but clean-up crews are still on the James Smith Cree Nation searching for the source of a mysterious foam which surfaced on the North Saskatchewan late August 2017.

Through the snow and light winds, roughly 25 officials from Husky, the Cree Nation, and different levels of government strapped on lifejackets and high-visibility vests before embarking down the river bank.

“They’re doing a re-assessment of the shoreline,” Husky representative Mel Duvall said. “If they encounter anything that needs to be cleaned up they will do so, but essentially they’re just going over the shorelines.”

Two dogs, which are trained to smell chemical compounds in Husky’s oil accompanied the clean-up crews. If the dogs smell oil, their handlers will mark the location with a GPS unit attached to their collars, then use a flag to leave a visual marker.

Clean-up crews are working along the north and south banks of the river under the guidance of residents from James Smith who’ve traversed the waterway their entire lives. Duvall said the shoreline assessment crews will stay in James Smith for a only few days, but have worked all year long to clean portions of the river banks impacted by the oil spill.

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Former federal MP Rob Clarke was at the boat launch to observe the cleaning crews’ work. He said he was happy to see Husky on site.

“Having been up and down James Smith Cree Nation lands and looking at debris, we know there’s oil there,” Clarke said. “We’re concerned about how much and the extent of the environmental damage that may have happened.”

Following the oil spill in 2016, Chief and Council from the James Smith Cree Nation imposed a ban on fishing, hunting, trapping and swimming in the river. Clarke said residents are unhappy with the ban still in place, because freezers need to be filled for the winter months.

“It’s been a long process to get [Husky] out here. It’s just too bad it took them until winter to come.”

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On twitter: @BryanEneas