Nexen pipeline spill site must be made 'pristine,' First Nation says

The clean up of a massive pipeline spillin northern Alberta must be conducted with the long-term future of
the land in mind, say area First Nations.

"Our biggest concern is the land," said Byron Bates, a bandcouncillor of the Fort McMurray First Nation, which sits about 10kilometres from the five-million-litrespill of emulsion, a mix of bitumen, sand and water.

I was amazed at how big it was. You read five million litresbut when you go out and see it, it's something else.- Byron Bates, Fort McMurray First Nation

Bates said the area around the spill isn't used as much forhunting, trapping and other traditional purposes as it was beforeindustry built up on it.

But he said those developments aren't going to be around forever.When industry's done, his people expect no traces to be left ofevents such as last Wednesday's spill.

"In 50 or 70 years the oil companies are going to be gone," hesaid. "We want to be able to use our land again.

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"Our biggest concern is to make sure it's brought back topristine condition."

Clean up continued Sunday on the site about 35 km southeast ofFortMcMurray.
A road into the site has been completed. Crews have fenced offthe area to keep wildlife out and builtbermsto keep contaminantsin.

Vacuum trucks are sucking surface fluid off the muskeg inpreparation for the deeper clean-up of digging up and removingpotentially contaminated soil.

"They've got to get that fluid out so they can then dig up thatimpacted soil and treat that," said KimBlanchette, a spokeswomanfor the Alberta Energy Regulator, who was on site.

"Anything that's come in contact with that fluid has to betreated."

Soil and water tested daily

Bates praised the activity on site, saying it has improved aftera slow start.

"There's a better effort on the ground and they're taking moreactive measures to prevent [bitumen]getting into the lake," hesaid.

A small, unnamed lake sits near the spill site and is beingmonitored for any seepage.

Bates saidNexenhas given the band's representatives full accessto the site and has shared clean up plans with them.

"We're pretty happy with that," he said. "But there's stillconcern in our community."

Nexen'swebsitesaid Sunday that a small tank farm has been builton the site for the collected fluids and that officials from theregulator have reviewed the company's environmental clean-up plan.

Testing of soil and water from in and around the site isconducted daily to make sure contaminants aren't reaching any localwater bodies,Blanchettesaid.

"There's been a lot of rain, so it's very important they keeptesting. Containment is a big, big part of what we require from themin terms of plans.

"There's a recognition that this is going to take some time toclean up."

The spill was spotted Wednesday by a contractor after thecompany's automated monitoring system failed to report the breach.

On Friday, Ron Bailey,Nexen'ssenior vice-president of Canadianoperations, said the company was investigating the system failureand apologized for the impact of the spill.

Blanchettesaid the regulator's investigation will consider whythe relatively new section of pipe leaked as well as why the warningsystem failed. She said the pipe will soon be purged and removed forforensic testing.

The affected area is about 16,000 square metres. That's plentybig, said Bates, who visited the site Friday.

"I was amazed at how big it was. You read five million litresbut when you go out and see it, it's something else."