Environment ministry estimates over 12,000 litres of fuel spilled after Kamloops train derailment

Cleanup continues after a train derailed in B.C.’s Interior over the weekend, spilling thousands of litres of aviation fuel and other material into Kamloops Lake.

The Environmental Emergency Branch (EEB) says it was informed of a Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) train derailment close to Cherry Creek around 7 p.m. on Saturday.

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“The preliminary assessment is that one locomotive and approximately 17 cars, a mix of loaded and empty rail cars, were involved,” the EEB said.

“Four of the cars are loaded with fuel, five loaded with gypsum, and one loaded with pulp products. The other rail cars are empty, including three that last contained gasoline.”

According to the government’s incident report, the spilled content consisted of fuel and gypsum.

In an update Tuesday, the Ministry of Environment and Parks says response crews have removed fuel from one of the rail cars and taken it off site.

But before that, it says “preliminary estimates suggest approximately 12,700 litres of aviation fuel were released from the rail car to the environment.”

An operation to remove fuel from a second car is scheduled for Wednesday.

In a statement to CityNews Tuesday, CPKC says its environmental teams are on site collaborating.

The company claimed, “The leak of fuel has been contained, and containment booms will remain in the water around the site as work on the cleanup and car removal continues.”

By the morning after the derailment, the ministry says crews had deployed a containment boom in the water. A second boom, extending the coverage perimeter, was added the following day.

When some oil sheen was spotted escaping, the booms were reportedly reinforced, and additional booms were placed downstream.

On Monday, crews began to clean up the spill by skimming and applying peat moss and absorbent material.

But the EEB says its staff has detected fuel odour at the small community of Frederick, across the lake.

The province says the results of water samples are still pending.

Michael Grenier, electoral area director for Area J in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD), says the district is concerned about the results.

“We have four community water systems downstream that need that testing,” Grenier explained, adding that the closest one is only seven kilometres from the spill site.

He says the TNRD is operating on a “trust, but verify” policy.

“Downstream communities want absolute certainty that the water at the intake is not compromised, and we need that water tested.”

Grenier says CPKC has been “diligent” in working to contain the spill.

“They’ve been very transparent and they’ve been communicative. But the point at this point is that we need the water testing done at the source for these communities so that we can absolutely assure folks that this is not a problem.”

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says it is still investigating the cause of the derailment.

CPKC says the rail corridor had reopened to train movement by Monday morning after safety inspections.

—With files from Emma Crawford.