N.B. Justice Department confirms takeover of Woodstock diesel leak investigation

The New Brunswick Justice Department is reviewing the 2024 fuel spill in Woodstock.

New Brunswick’s Department of Justice has confirmed the file relating to a fuel leak at an Irving gas station in Woodstock is now in their hands.

The change of the high profile file was mentioned by Environment Minister Gillies LePage Friday to reporters. LePage said Irving Oil has done “everything” his department has asked in the investigation and clean-up of 189,000 litres of diesel fuel found in December 2024.

Justice department communications officer Jadesola Emmanuel confirmed the file has been referred to the justice and public safety division, but offered no further comment due to the ongoing investigation.

The spill was the cause of a crack in a remote fill elbow, according to both the province and Irving Oil.

Fuel spills expert Mervin Fingas says an underground spill of this magnitude is unusual.

“Normally the leak detection protocols and the mass balance protocols, let’s say of a gas station or a bulk station would catch such a leak long before it happens,” he says.

Fingas also adds the reason behind such a large spillage could be a result of either a lack of protocol or following existing protocols.

He says the cleanup involved in a spill of this size would include lots of pumping to get the fuel out of the ground, and then the removal of all contaminated soil and material.

Assuming the cleanup was done thoroughly, he says residents should not worry about diesel showing up in their water years down the line due to the spill.

While Fingas can’t speak to this exact investigation, he said fuel spills like this tend to see some sort of charges laid.

“[Specifically] causing the release of a substance which is deleterious to the environment or specifically fish or specifically a species in the area,” says Fingas when asked what charges usually come from these types of spills.

The department pledged last year to inspect every gas retailer in the province in the wake of the massive spill.

“I can tell you that it is a constant. It’s a daily job for our inspectors,” LePage told reporters Friday. “So, yes, there are you have the boots on the ground. They’re working on it. And, we haven’t had any major issues, come up. and that came up to my knowledge.”

Those inspectors completed two phases of inspections in 2025. The first phase resulted in 14 violations from 30 inspections while the second phase consisted of 91 inspections and resulted in 47 violations.

Those included “unlicensed sites, failure to display owner/operator information, use of hold-open devices, unregistered tanks and improper storage tank labelling.”

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