Cleanup continues nearly two months after New Brunswick fuel spill

Remediation work following a fuel spill in Nauwigewauk, N.B., is pictured. (Avery MacRae/CTV News Atlantic)

Remediation work continues along the side of Route 1 in southern New Brunswick almost two months after a tanker truck rolled over on the highway, resulting in thousands of litres in spilled fuel.

On April 8, a double-long tanker rolled over on the highway in Nauwigewauk, which led to more than 36,000 litres of spilled fuel.

Seaboard Liquid Carriers were identified as the responsible party less than a week later and are responsible for the cleanup. The company hired Pario Engineering to lead the remediation efforts.

One lane of the eastbound side of the highway remains closed due to the cleanup. Large amounts of soil have been removed from the area, as well as several trees. Underflow dams and booms were also erected around the site to ensure nothing was leaking away from the site and into nearby watersheds.

CTV News Atlantic has reached out to the company and is awaiting a response.

Jennifer MacNeil, who handles communications for the Department of Environment and Local Government, said Pario is monitoring petroleum concentrations in Whalen Brook, a small tributary to the Hammond River.

“To date, petroleum concentrations in surface water have been below the applicable regulatory criteria,” MacNeil said.

The cleanup work has been closely monitored by the Hammond River Angling Association, a non-profit conservation group that protects and preserves the Hammond River watershed.

Sam Bohan, an ecological technician for the association, says they have conducted multiple tests of the area water since the spill for things like benzene and toluene, which are found in gasoline.

“It’s harmful because it’s soluble in water and at certain exposures and concentrations can pose a risk,” Bohan says. “We have results back for our first two rounds of water sampling, and for both rounds it was below detection levels.

“Now, that doesn’t mean that there’s zero in the water, it just means that with our laboratory methods it’s below where we’re able to detect which is reassuring.”

Bohan says the association is hopeful at this stage there will not be an impact on the watershed but will continue to sample the water following significant rainfall events.

He also notes the association has been told of at least two ground water wells for long term monitoring of the spill are being put in place in the area of the rollover.

“Pario Engineering has so far removed 2,000 metric tons of soil,” says Bohan. “They’ve established clean walls, which means areas around their excavation where they haven’t detected certain levels of these volatiles.”

Bohan says he has not received any indication on when the remediation work will be completed.

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