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Search Warrants of CN Rail Offices Executed in B.C. Train Derailment

Posted on: Thursday, 12 April 2007, 21:00 CDT

By DIRK MEISSNER

VICTORIA (CP) - Search warrants were executed Thursday at CN Rail offices in British Columbia and Alberta over the 2005 train derailment and the spill of caustic soda into the Cheakamus River north of Vancouver.

Environment Canada officers were at CN offices in Edmonton, Surrey and Prince George with warrants, B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner said.

B.C. conservation officers were present at the Prince George and Surrey CN offices when the searches occurred, he said.

More than 500,000 adult and young salmon, steelhead, trout, lamprey and other species were killed after the derailment in August 2005 that spilled toxic caustic soda into the river, located about 45 kilometres north of Vancouver.

"This is in relation to the ongoing investigation pertaining to the Cheakamus Canyon derailment and spill of 41,000 litres of caustic soda," said Penner.

"It's been an ongoing investigation and today search warrants were executed: one in Edmonton, two in Surrey - two different offices in Surrey - and one in Prince George."

A CN Rail spokesman confirmed that the offices in Alberta and British Columbia were the locations of the searches.

"The search warrants were in relation to the August 2005 derailment in Cheakamus, B.C., and CN co-operated with the search," said Jim Feeny.

"All I can say is they were looking for and they obtained information relating to the August 2005 derailment," said Feeny, who said he could not provide more specifics about what the investigators were looking for or may have removed from the offices.

"We gave them our full co-operation," said Feeny.

Penner said the derailment is still the subject of numerous government probes and may eventually result in criminal charges.

Transport Canada and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are concluding investigations and Environment Canada, Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the B.C. Environment Ministry have all been conducting investigations.

The TSB report, which could be out by the end of May, will report on what caused the derailment, Penner said.

"I've always said charges could also arise depending on the outcome of that (TSB) investigation, and our own investigation along with those by officials from Environment Canada and possibly DFO," he said.

So far, CN has voluntarily paid about $180,000 to the B.C. government for recovery, response and administrative costs since the spill, Penner said.

"Some people have confused that with, 'oh, that's all CN is going to have to pay,"' said Penner. "Our direct costs of responding and then of coming up with a recovery plan is separate from the issue of will there possibly be charges and or fines."

Penner said the spill suffocated most of the fish that were located in the river's main channel for a period of 12 hours.

"The fish actually died from a lack of oxygen," he said.

But some fish that were in the river's back channels and pools survived the spill, Penner said.

"We thought all fish had died at first that were in that river, but it turns out fish were luckily in some side channels and things, and then they came back into the main channel. If they did after 12 hours, they were fine," he said.

Last April, Penner said it will take at least 10 years for fish stocks in the Cheakamus River to recover from the spill.

A steelhead recovery program launched last spring will soon be ready to release hatchery-raised steelhead into the river, he said.

"By adding some hatchery steelhead the hope is that we can speed up the recovery," Penner said.

In February 2006, CN Rail agreed to contribute $1.25 million over five years to restore the Cheakamus River system in a partnership with the Pacific Salmon Foundation.

Penner said earlier he wants protective guards to be put along the canyon sections of the river to prevent future rail accidents.

Source: Canadian Press

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