Comin’ Atcha! The Trackside Motocross Park was busy Saturday as they hosted the first race of the Southeast Corner Racing Circuit schedule. For results and more photos please see page B4. Photo by Chad Saxon.
Wed., May 14, 2014
Issue 1
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY FOR 112 YEARS
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Crude-filled tanker cars derail By Chad Saxon editor@estevanmercury.ca
Estevan’s emergency services personnel, and residents, were able to breath a sigh of relief Thursday after a train derailment was resolved without major incident or injury. The derailment, which occurred Thursday at around 11 a.m., saw four tanker cars filled with crude oil jump the tracks just north of the Devonian Industrial Subdivision. Although the worst was feared in the immediate aftermath, none of the tanker cars ruptured during the derailment, which occurred on a low speed section of track near CP’s oil transloading facility but not at it. “It could have been very serious, but thankfully it was not,” said Mayor Roy Ludwig in an interview Monday. “We consider ourselves very fortunate.” Ludwig, who was in Lloydminster for the Saskatchewan City Mayors’ Caucus when the derailment occurred was quick to thank
Four tanker cars, each filled with crude oil, derailed Thursday morning in Estevan. No oil leaked from any of the tankers and the cause of the derailment remains under investigation. Photo by Chad Saxon. the members of Estevan’s fire and police departments as well as the emergency measures organization for their quick work in securing and assessing the scene. “All of our people that were involved did a fantastic job, and it’s just a comfort knowing that we have the expertise within our community
to deal with these types of situations,” he said. “I want to also thank CP. They did a very good job of ensuring that nothing was spilled even though the cars were laid over. They decanted and as it worked out, thank goodness nothing was spilled, so it was a total success.” Thursday’s derailment
was the City’s first since 2004 when a number of cars left the track near Estevan Diversified Services. In that instance, ammonia leaked from the derailed cars, forcing the evacuation of residences in the area. In the years before and after the 2004 incident, the City’s EMO group has been
active in planning for the worst-case scenario given the amount of hazardous materials that are transported through Estevan on a daily basis. Although the worst-case scenario did not materialize, the preparation was evident in the aftermath of the derailment, which is under investi-
gation by Transport Canada. Fire rescue service personnel arrived at the scene within minutes and set about securing the scene and assessing whether or not there was a leak. By 1:30 that afternoon, a media conference was held at Investigation ⇢ A2
City discussing which streets will remain open to trucks As work continues on the heavy-truck bypass around the northern outskirts of Estevan, the City is also looking to review and revise which roads within city limits are going to continue accepting heavy trucks in the future. Going forward council agreed during their regular meeting on May 5 that allowing fewer trucks on city streets is better than the opposite. City council had previously raised concerns with Fourth Avenue being a designated truck route, and during a review of the routes around the city, council identified three other areas to be reconsidered, Alice Road from Woodlawn Avenue to the west city boundary, Woodlawn Avenue from Alice Road to the south city boundary and Sixth Street from Second Avenue to Kensington Avenue. The report from city engineer Kiflom Weldeab was returned to council last week. Councillor Kevin Smith raised some concerns over the
potential removal of the truck route designation on Sixth Street. If the city began to no longer allow trucks on Sixth Street between Kensington and Second, Smith asked if they would be restricting access to all trucks over a certain weight or whether existing businesses on that stretch of road would be permitted on the street with oversized loads. Most of Sixth Street isn’t a truck route, but there is a 375-metre stretch west of Kensington Avenue to Second Avenue that allows them. The recommendation to council noted the City should either revisit classifying that section of Sixth Street as a truck route or include Second Avenue from Third Street to Sixth Street as a truck route so heavy loads are able to loop back around to Kensington. Weldeab said as it stands, the Sixth Street truck route goes nowhere. “It doesn’t loop around. That is a truck route that
doesn’t go anywhere,” said Weldeab, noting if that section of Sixth Street continues as a truck route there should be the inclusion of Second Avenue as well. He added that the issue for many of these roads was that they haven’t been built to withstand heavy-truck traffic, Sixth Street included. Mayor Roy Ludwig said there will be further consultation with the public who will have the opportunity to come forward with their concerns about the truck routes as the bylaw is drawn up. “The whole reason behind this, and I know council is fully behind it, is the degradation of our streets and roads. We simply cannot continue to watch them deteriorate,” said Ludwig. “Now that we’ve got the heavy-truck bypass, we want to restrict wherever possible the heavy-truck traffic on our streets.” Police ⇢ A2
Senchuk
Ford Sales Ltd.
118 Souris Ave. N., Estevan 306-634-3696 www.senchukford.ca