NDP worried about timing of spill report
The Saskatchewan NDP is concerned that the provincial government has given Husky Energy Inc. more time to explain its pipeline spill, approving the Calgary-based company’s request for 30 additional days.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there was yet another … delay or something along those lines,” said Opposition environment critic Cathy Sproule, who is also the MLA for Saskatoon Nutana.
Husky said last week that it was on track to meet the initial 90-day deadline to explain what caused the pipeline to spill 225,000 litres of heavy crude near and into the North Saskatchewan River on July 20, and that it expected to file its report around Oct. 21.
That changed on Oct. 19, when the company told the government that two engineering firms it hired needed more time to finish technical reports. The government took Husky at its word, and the company’s explanation is now expected in late November.
In an email sent Friday, Husky spokesman Mel Duvall said the company has been “transparent” with provincial authorities, and that it now expects to file its report “on or before Nov. 21.”
Sproule said the new timeline is worrisome because another delay could result in the Opposition losing its chance to hold the government to account in question period. The fall session of the legislative assembly began on Oct. 19 and wraps up on Nov. 30.
“These are companies with access to all sorts of resources, and they owe it to the people of Saskatchewan to be timely about this reporting back,” Sproule said. “They’d better be done on the 21st … but I’ll believe it when I see it.”
The NDP has been critical of the government since the spill, blasting it for refusing to hand over pipeline inspection documents and failing to implement pipeline safety recommendations made by the provincial auditor in 2012.
The Opposition has also called for the Ministry of Energy and Resources to quit regulating the province’s pipelines and instead establish an independent, Alberta Energy Regulatory-style pipeline watchdog.
Under provincial pipeline regulations, the government can give companies up to six months to finish technical reports. Doug MacKnight, assistant deputy minister for the Ministry of Economy, said on Friday that the province does not expect another extension.
Energy and Resources Minister Dustin Duncan echoed MacKnight’s comments on Tuesday, adding the province is confident Husky will meet its new deadline and submit the reports before the end of the legislative session.
“It really basically came down to the point of when the report was due that they required an extension,” Duncan said. “For the ministry, that leads us to believe that we’re close in terms of having the completed … reports on or before Nov. 21.”
Duncan said neither he nor the Ministry of Economy knows which engineering firms were contracted to prepare the reports. The government hired another engineering company to review Husky’s findings.
That review will form part of the government’s separate investigation of the spill, which it says will make use of Husky’s report and corporate records. Duncan said that investigation will inform the government’s next steps, including possible penalties.
“If Husky’s hoping that this is just going to go away the longer it drags out, that’s not going to be the case.”