https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/08/15/news/halifax-oil-leak-much-larger-originally-disclosed-nova-scotia-power-says
[Once more, the oil industry playbook is being used. This is the stage
where we learn that the initial 'underestimate' of the amount spilled
(most of the time the operator has no real idea how much oil or fuel has
lost from containment - typically it's not metered - was low. But it
lessened the impact (public outrage) during the initial news cycle.
This typically goes with a statement that the spill is contained, and
will be cleaned up within days. With this spill, the clean-up is still
getting organized, days after the spill event, which is not unusual either.]
Halifax oil leak much larger than originally disclosed, Nova Scotia
Power says
By The Canadian Press in News, Politics | August 15th 2018
Nova Scotia Power says an oil leak at its Tufts Cove generating station
involved 19,300 more litres of oil than originally disclosed.
The utility had previously said that an oil leak was discovered Aug. 2
at the plant, with about 5,000 litres entering Halifax harbour.
On Tuesday, it said another 9,400 litres of oil also entered the cooling
water system of one of the generators, while 9,900 litres were captured
in a containment trench at the 500-megawatt facility.
"It was all contained within our property," said Mark Sidebottom, the
utility's chief operating officer.
He said they had previously told the provincial and federal environment
departments that there were other, unspecified amounts of oil spilled.
"We were very transparent about this. The most sensitive area is the
harbour and that amount still stands," he said in an interview.
He said Nova Scotia Power wanted to confirm the amounts of oil spilled
on its own property before sharing that information.
"We wanted to make sure we could reconcile the volumes with the amount
we had in the tanks."
He said the company told neighbours via telephone and other means
Tuesday. There was no risk to neighbours' properties from the other
amounts spilled, he said.
The utility, a subsidiary of Halifax-based Emera Inc., says about 50 per
cent of the spill into the generator had been recovered, while 95 per
cent of the other two amounts had been cleaned up.
The cleanup will continue through to mid-September, "particularly as the
efforts move into the more meticulous shoreline work," the company said
in a release.
"In addition to the clean-up itself personnel are on-site actively
monitoring for birds and mammals to shoo them away. They are using
noisemakers as a deterrent to keep wildlife from the area — ensuring
birds and mammals don't become fouled with oil is a key priority," the
release said.
It said containment booms will remain in the water near the plant as a
precaution, and workers will monitor for any oil sheen.
Officials have said the leak came from a thumb-sized hole in an exterior
pipe that runs from "storage tanks along the harbour-side of the
facility into the plant," which is tucked in a small cove on the
Dartmouth side of the busy harbour.
The company said the three oil-fired units at Tufts Cove were
commissioned in the 1960s and 1970s, and were converted to also burn
natural gas in 1999-2000. Its two natural gas-fired combustion turbines
were commissioned in 2003 and 2004.