The District of Kitimat responded to an oil spill on the Kitimat River across the street from the Chevron card lock last week.

The District said it started around noon on the morning of Thursday, March 16. Other sources said it started earlier around 10:15.

It is unclear if the leak has been fully contained as of press time (Sunday evening), but the DOK said drinking water had not been contaminated. It is performing an investigation into who is responsible for the oil spill.

Cameron Orr, business and communications manager for the District of Kitimat said “public works have been flushing the storm drain and they’re still figuring out where specifically the petroleum product might have come from. We don’t have an exact source, we just know it’s coming out of a storm drain.”

Provincial partners, such as the Ministry of Environment and Northern Health Services were alerted, as well as downstream industrial users. No formal notice to residents was sent out.

District workers were also examining storm drains for oil leaking upriver, in Service Centre, across the street from the Northern Sentinel office. It is unknown if the leaks were connected or just how widespread the spill was.

Workers clean up spilled oil on the Kitimat River next to Radley Park on March 17, 2023. (Hunter Wild)