District of Squamish environmental co-ordinator Peter Woods says Murrin Provincial Park's Browning Lake is safe from contamination after an accident involving a tanker on Highway 99 caused 2,200 litres of fuel to spill onto the accident site.Ministry of Environment spokesperson Kate Thompson said she misspoke last week when she told The Chief fuel was getting under the road and into the water. In rephrasing the statement, she said the clean up operation was set up in order to remove the contaminated soil and prevent the fuel from reaching the lake. "We wanted to make sure it's out of there before anything would leach into the water," she said.Woods said the cleanup company HAZCO successfully contained the spill, due in part to three pollution containment booms being used to catch delirious substances on the site.There are three booms between the spill site and the lake. Soil tests from the boom closest to the water have shown no traces of hydrocarbon, meaning the lake is unharmed, Woods said."We're confident now that nothing went into the lake," he said. "If diesel does hit the aquatic environment, it's very volatile. The most toxic substances evaporate quickly."However, he said soil tends to hang onto traces of fuel, making it a reliable indicator after a spill.Representatives from Keystone Environmental, which represents HAZCO, were not available for comment.Although it is MOE and not the District of Squamish regulating the site, Woods said the district has taken an interest in it because residents use it."It does have value to us."About two weeks ago he visited the site and said he was satisfied with the clean up operation.The success of this cleanup could be attributed in part to a new protocol for pollution response spearheaded by the district last fall, not long after Woods came on board. During the meeting, Woods discussed pollution response with members of Environment Canada, MOE, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and emergency program co-ordinator Jim Lang."We had that meeting predicting that these kinds of events would occur," he said. The new protocol gives contact information and describes what kind of expertise is available in the case of a spill, facilitating a faster clean up with better communication between relevant agencies.
