CN Rail may soon be facing a second suit over the August 2005 derailment that resulted in thousands of litres of caustic soda spilling into the Cheakamus River.
Almost two years later, the District of Squamish is now considering taking legal action, according to Mayor Ian Sutherland.
Sutherland's pronouncement comes on the heels of a statement of claim against CN that was filed by the Squamish Nation last week.
"As is the case with the Squamish Nation, we are very aware that the statute of limitations on a suit is coming up very quickly," said Sutherland.
"The clock is definitely running. What we're doing right now is our lawyers are looking at it. For a cause of action we have to demonstrate a financial loss to the District of Squamish or the people of Squamish."
The mayor feels that this loss can be shown in two ways. The first is through the funds the district directly spent on the spill."This would be for staff time and resources," said Sutherland.
"The other area is the loss to the greater community of the asset," he said. "That's harder to nail down."
While the Squamish Nation has already filed a statement of claim for an undisclosed amount, the district is not expected to make a final decision on whether or not to pursue a suit until middle of June.
"The challenge is not having the Transportation Safety Board's (TSB) report on the investigation yet. And it doesn't look like we'll get that before the deadline," said Sutherland.
Sutherland said that he does not expect the report to be released until late August or early September, well past the Aug. 5 deadline to file a legal action.
The absence of the report also played a hand in Squamish Nation's decision to pursue legal action at this time.
"We were hoping that the Transportation Safety Board report would be complete before [the statute of limitations expires] but that does not look like that will be the case," said Chief Gibby Jacob.
"We have no idea what that report will say."
Both the district and Squamish Nation have expressed frustration over how slowly the process and the TSB's report has been moving along.
"We felt because of the inaction of CN Rail that they were not taking our concerns as seriously as we would like them to," said Chief Bill Williams.
