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NEWS: Pearkes arena sees the light /A5 COMMUNITY: Craft fair created for men /A9 SPORTS: Lacrosse under Friday night lights /A21
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SAANICHNEWS Friday, November 16, 2012
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Saanich welcomes municipal auditor
A concrete staircase is about all that remains of an Adelaide Avenue home torn down Tuesday to make way for cleaning the property of oil mistakenly dumped on the site in February. Scott Laughlin and John Perry of B.C. Hazmat prepare site, which involves digging out remaining oil pockets.
Kyle Slavin News staff
Mayor Frank Leonard says Saanich’s front door will be open to the B.C. municipal auditor if she comes knocking. Since first hearing in August 2011 that the provincial government was moving on plans to have someone inspect municipal books, he’s welcomed the idea with optimism. “If they walk in and recommend we should change something, I would welcome that recommendation if it’s going to save taxpayers money,” Leonard said. Premier Christy Clark has appointed chartered accountant Basia Ruta as the auditor general for local government. Her office will launch in January. Clark’s ministers for local government, Oak Bay-Gordon Head MLA Ida Chong and now Kootenay East MLA Bill Bennett, have emphasized that the Surrey-based auditor will compare similar communities through performance audits and publish recommendations on those that are more efficient. Leonard said that while the findings will be just that, recommendations, it would be political suicide not to treat them as binding. “I can’t imagine a politically elected council saying, ‘We’re going to ignore this recommendation,’” he said. “This auditor general is going to have considerably more credibility than any politician.” PLEASE SEE: Civic auditor, Page A13
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Sharon Tiffin/News staff
Home leveled in heating oil fiasco Saanich property torn up 9 months after mistaken fuel delivery Kyle Slavin News staff
A Saanich home that was the site of a large heating oil spill last February was torn down this week to allow for environmental repair of the property. The spill, which occurred on Feb. 3, 2012, was the fourth incident in Saanich since November 2011 in which home heating oil leaked into the natural surroundings.
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This spill, however, wasn’t the result of a faulty tank or fuel line. Rather, an employee of Island Pacific Oil pumped more than 300 litres of heating oil into the wrong house on Adelaide Avenue – one that didn’t burn oil for heat. Dave Rogers, senior incident commander for B.C. Hazmat, said the property at 2853 Adelaide Ave. should have been torn down in February to get access to whatever oil may be left on the property. It took until now for Pacific Oil and the homeowner to come to an agreement on a remediation plan. “The problem is the house is built on top of a huge, huge rock, and … the oil just flowed on top of this huge rock,” Rogers said.
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“We couldn’t get underneath the house (to access the oil) without destroying the integrity of the house.” Crews from B.C. Hazmat were on site this week tearing down the home and clearing the lot. Next week they’ll be back at the site taking their cues from Jed Clampett, as Rogers puts it. “We’re looking for oil.” Because B.C. Hazmat contained much of the spilled oil in February, Rogers says there are no greater environmental concerns on the property now than when the spill occurred. Although the oil is contained, it’s still on the property, and it needs to be extracted and removed, as mandated by the
Ministry of Environment. Before the province will sign off on an oil spill site, it needs to be proven that the groundwater is as clean as drinking water, Rogers said. “That’s how clean we have to get it.” A spokesperson for the Ministry of Environment said Island Pacific Oil immediately acknowledged responsibility for the spill and has been working with the homeowner since February. Calls for comment to Island Pacific Oil and Federated Insurance, Island Pacific’s insurance company, were not returned by the News deadline. PLEASE SEE: Cleanup, Page A4
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