To: gypsy who wrote (1923 ) 1/9/2000 3:05:00 PM From: Elmer Flugum Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 2259
****Bovar Inc.****Blight of Alberta? PCBs spilled en route to Swan Hills Jack Danylchuk Journal Staff Writer and The Canadian Press Swan Hills - A truck carrying almost 18,000 litres of liquid polychlorinated biphenyls twice spilled some of its cargo while on its way to the Swan Hills hazardous waste treatment plant earlier this week. "The total amount spilled was less than a litre," Shaun Hammond, spokesperson for dangerous goods control at Alberta Transportation, said Thursday. Hammond said two barrels in the 84-barrel cargo were "weeping and seeping" PCBs. The action of the truck stopping and going caused the liquid to splash over the truck's secondary containment system. "Our concern is that these drums are not supposed to leak," Hammond said. "We're speculating that there might be something wrong with drums or something happened while they were stored, when they were being loaded, or they might have got battered during transit." The PCBs were en route from Nova Scotia and investigators are now retracing the truck's route across Canada. Investigators found one spill at the intersection of Highways 43 and 33 near Gunn. The other happened when the driver stopped at an intersection 10 km from the plant. Only a trace of PCBs was found at Tofield where the truck spent the night and the spot where the truck stopped near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border was clear, Hammond said. Because the spills were small and the cleanup quick, the public and environment are not at risk, Hammond said. A government announcement of the spill noted that more than 49 million litres of hazardous waste have been brought into Alberta in the past year without any spills. Calgary-based Bovar Inc., operator of the waste treatment plant, has had mishaps in the past. Alberta Environment has laid six charges against the plant of violating provincial environmental regulations. Bovar said earlier this year it plans to plead guilty to the charges to avoid a costly and lengthy trial. The charges were laid following an airborne leak of PCBs, dioxins and furans from the plant in October 1996. - Edmonton Journal