New Brunswick’s environment department has announced a province-wide inspection of fuel retailers.
This comes after tens of thousands of litres of diesel leaked at an Irving Oil station near Woodstock.
Environment Minister Gilles LePage said retailers are being checked to confirm they are complying with regulatory requirements.
In addition, they are working to ensure that site owners have proper measures in place for detecting and managing spills.
“The department has conducted hundreds of inspections related to petroleum systems in recent years, however, the current exercise is in addition to those efforts,” LePage said in a statement on Tuesday.
Irving Oil, in a separate statement on Monday, said the systems and processes it has to protect against and prevent these sorts of incidents “did not operate as intended.”
“We have undertaken a thorough and extensive review of this matter to prevent further occurrences,” the company said in its statement.
Work continues to clean up the leak at the Beardsley Road Irving, which was first discovered in December.
Environment department officials said it was caused by a crack in a remote fill elbow, which has since been decommissioned.
“The department continues to investigate the circumstances around the cause of the diesel release,” said the department.
Irving Oil has been identified as the responsible party and was required to immediately hire a site professional to oversee emergency response and cleanup.
The department said it will ensure Irving Oil continues to comply with environmental legislation, including petroleum-handling and -storage regulation.
