BURNABY, B.C.–While a phalanx of officials ponders how an excavator could fracture a major pipeline, raining crude oil onto a quiet neighbourhood, residents of blackened homes wondered yesterday if their postcard pretty streets will ever be pristine again.
The cleanup that began almost as soon as the punctured line was shut off could last for weeks and cost millions of dollars.
Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan said it remains to be seen whether at least 11 homes overlooking Burrard Inlet that were coated by the geyser of oil are habitable, or if they have to be torn down.
"Those were the houses where we urged very strongly for the residents to move out for the night and possibly for longer, while others were allowed to return voluntarily," he said.
About 90 people took up the offer of accommodation Tuesday night, some from homes where the stench of the oil was intolerable.
Cleanup crews wearing protective suits and respirators were combing the site, shovelling buckets of dirt as oil clung to their shoes.
The blackened backhoe that reportedly broke the pipeline while digging for a new sewer line stood idle.
Frank Whitson said his home has been covered with a film of crude oil but his major concern is his health and that of his neighbours.
"What is the impact going to be on the citizens of the area?" he asked. "What is the quality of the air we're breathing right now?"
A spokesperson for Kinder Morgan Canada, which owns the 60-centimetre-diameter pipeline, said it is taking responsibility for the cleanup effort even though it has yet to be determined who is at fault.
The pipeline carries crude oil from Edmonton to the Burnaby area, where it is stored before being piped onto ocean tankers.
The National Energy Board is heading the investigation, working with the province, city, RCMP and Transportation Safety Board.
The broken pipeline gushed a black fountain of crude four storeys in the air for about 30 minutes.
The oil coated everything in a wide radius.
It ran down nearby streets and into storm drains that empty into Burrard Inlet, where a slick appeared in less than an hour.
Federal Environment Minister John Baird, whose department is responsible for any marine cleanup, praised the speed of the environmental response.
"The overwhelming majority (of oil) that made its way into the water was able to be contained," he said.
The spill threatens not only Burrard Inlet, an important waterway home to Vancouver's vast port complex, but the built-up urban environment around it, he said.
The Living Oceans Society said the spill could affect the ability of fish to reproduce for years to come.
The company contracted to do sewer work for Burnaby, Cusano Contracting, did not comment.
