300 to 400 litres of used oil deliberately dumped in the Big Eddy

By David F. Rooney

Someone intentionally dumped a poisonous mix of 300 to 400 litres of used cooking oil and industrial or motor oil in the Big Eddy sometime on the night of Thursday, May 1, says Mike Thomas, the City’s director of Engineering and Development Services.

“We estimate that there are 300-to-400 litres of motor oil and restaurant in the ditch,” he said, adding that while anything under 50 litres might conceivably be an accidental spill or release, there was no chance that 300 litres was an accidental release.

Thomas said City employees Ed Wozniak and Darren Komonoski reacted quickly once they saw the mess in the ditch on both sides of the Nixon Road intersection with Begbie Road by the Wright Machine Shop.

“The City was on it right away,” said nearby resident Roma Threatful.

She said another local resident, Melinda Boruch, called the City about the oil after she noticed its evil smell while gong down the road.

The City deployed some oil-containment booms and oil-absorbent pads in the ditches and alerted the Ministry of the Environment, which dispatched a contractor from Lynx Creek Industrial & Hydrovac Ltd. to clean up the mess.

There in lies part of the problem, as everyone who lives in Revelstoke knows, we no longer have a local Ministry of the Environment Conservation Officer. Victoria refused to replace Adam Christie when he retired and the nearest COs are now in Vernon and Invermere. Guess who is supposed to receive and handle complaints about drive-by polluters? The Conservation Officer Service via the Report a Poacher and Polluter Line at http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/cos/rapp/form.htm.

Our local municipal workers did really well in handling this but the City is not equipped or authorized to enforce illegal polluting and dumping.

An incident like this underlines the fact that Revelstoke has environmental enforcement needs that are way beyond its expertise. We need a Conservation Officer based in Revelstoke.

You can reach the Conservation Officer Service’s
 Report All Poachers and Polluters (RAPP) Line, toll-free, at 1-877-952-7277 (RAPP) or you can click here to report violators online.

Cleaning up this kind of poisonous mess costs us aIl thousands of dollars. If you think you know something about this incident please contact the CO Service via the RAPP line. Whoever did this should be made to pay.

Here are photos of the mess in the Big Eddy:

This is what 300-to-400 litres of used industrial oil and restaurant cooking oil looks like when some creep dumps it in a ditch rather than disposing of it properly. This toxic goo was intentionally dumped in a ditch along Begbie Road at the intersection with Nixon Road near the Wright Machine Shop on Thursday night and was discovered by a local resident on Friday morning. What you are looking at are oil-absorbent pads and a pale-blue oil-contantment boom. This ugly stuff did not leak from somewhere, nor was it spilled. It is easy to determine it was intentionally dumped because there are no signs of it up-ditch towards Highway 23S. And there is a lesser amount of it in the ditch across the road. David F. Rooney photo
This is what 300-to-400 litres of used industrial oil and restaurant cooking oil looks like when some creep dumps it in a ditch rather than disposing of it properly. This toxic goo was intentionally dumped in a ditch along Begbie Road at the intersection with Nixon Road near the Wright Machine Shop on Thursday night and was discovered by a local resident on Friday morning. What you are looking at are oil-absorbent pads and a pale-blue oil-containment boom. This ugly stuff did not leak from somewhere, nor was it spilled. It is easy to determine it was intentionally dumped because there are no signs of it up-ditch towards Highway 23S. And there is a lesser amount of it in the ditch across the road. David F. Rooney photo
Here's the ditch on Nixon Road directly across from the worst-affected ditch on the other side of Begbie Road. David F. Rooney photo
Here’s the ditch on Nixon Road directly across from the worst-affected ditch on the other side of Begbie Road. David F. Rooney photo
Workers from Lynx Creek Industrial & Hydrovac suck up a toxic mix of 300-to-400 litres of industrial oil and used restaurant oil from the ditch at the intersection of Begbie Road and Nixon Road on Friday afternoon, May 2. Some people who heard about this have called it an "oil spill." but that it is absolutely wrong. This crap was intentionally dumped. City employees were alerted by resident Melinda Boruch who smelled the oil before she saw it. The City contacted the Ministry of the Environment who contracted Lynx Creek to come and such it all up. The oil will be taken to a hazardous waste facility for disposal. David F. Rooney photo
Workers from Lynx Creek Industrial & Hydrovac Ltd. suck up a toxic mix of 300-to-400 litres of industrial oil and used restaurant oil from the ditch at the intersection of Begbie Road and Nixon Road on Friday afternoon, May 2. Some people who heard about this have called it an “oil spill.” but that it is absolutely wrong. This crap was intentionally dumped. City employees were alerted by resident Melinda Boruch who smelled the oil before she saw it. The City contacted the Ministry of the Environment who contracted Lynx Creek to come and such it all up. The oil will be taken to a hazardous waste facility for disposal. David F. Rooney photo

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