Dartmouth oil leaks blamed on thieves

Halifax Regional Police are blaming copper thieves for two oil leaks in Dartmouth, N.S., Thursday.

One incident occurred at a home on Farquharson Street and one at a business on Main Street. Environmental officials were on the scene Thursday afternoon as the oil leaked into a nearby river.

Staff at Duart Hardwood Stairs and Floorsarrived at work in the morning and turned on the furnace. When the warehouse did not heat up, they went outside to investigate. They found the lines to both 900-litre oil tanks had been cut and the oil was leaking.

Police arrived just after 11 a.m. They had responded to an earlier call for a cut oil tank line at a nearby home. Both incidents are believed to have occurred overnight

Dave Meldrum, spokesman for Halifax Regional Fire Department, said rainy weather meant there was little risk of a fire, but they are worried about where the oil ends up.

"We are concerned about a nearby storm drain behind the building, which we're told from the water commission ...could lead to Red Bridge Pond. We certainly don't want hydrocarbon products getting into Red Bridge Pond and the adjoining lakes," he said.

Red Bridge Pond connects to Lake Mic Mac and Lake Banook. Officials were attempting to contain the mess by laying downoil-absorbent pads around the tanks and a storm drain in the Duart Hardwood parking lot.

"They do a pretty good job of absorbing, but it's not foolproof," Meldrum said. "The quantity, I couldn't say for sure. Certainly, as large as the spill goes, we order in more absorbent material, more barrier material. We can build dykes around storm drains and other things like that."

He saidthe environmental damage could be substantial if a lot of oil reaches a waterway.

It is not clear how much oil was spilled, but the owners of Duart Hardwood said the tanks had not been filled in a few weeks.

Police believe thieves cut the lines to get the copper coating and sell it.