Halifax alleges negligence of 3 companies led to transit depot fuel leak

Halifax is seeking damages from three companies it accuses of negligence in the 2014 diesel fuel leak at a public transit bus depot in Burnside.

The lawsuit filed Aug.20 claims Redden Petroleum Enterprises,A&L Concrete Forming and AMEC Forster Wheeler Americas share responsibility for the fuel system failure that resulted in a leak that cost $2.6 million to clean up.

"HRM states the negligence and breach of contract by the Defendants ... allowed the escape of the red-dyed diesel fuel oil that occurred at the depot and resulted in damage, loss and costs to HRM," lawyer Martin Ward claimedin the originating notice.

At the time of the leak, the depot housed a Metro Transit facility, which now goes by the name of Halifax Transit.

Redden Petroleum installed above-ground fuel tanks at thedepot in 2009.

At the municipality's request, the tanks were connected to existing underground tanks as a backup.

The suit claims Redden's connection between the above and underground tanks did not meet industry codes and a valve should have been marked.

The connecting pipe was missed when A&L Concrete removed the underground tanks in 2013.

HRM claims A&L was required under provincial law to remove or cap underground storage tank pipes.

The municipalitysays both companies failed in their duty to perform in a workmanlike manner.

200,000 litres of diesel

It's believed 200,000 litres of diesel fuel slowly seeped from an unmarked open valve before the leak was discovered in April 2014 in a ditch one kilometre from the bus depot.

AMEC had been hired to monitor the underground tank removal and stayed on after the leak was discovered.

The municipalityfaults AMEC for failing to notice the uncapped pipe when the underground tanks were removed and for failing to "identify that the Depot was the source [of] the red-dyed diesel discovered in the ditch adjacent to the depot's property notwithstanding that itwas present on site and investigating the source of the leak for over 40 days."

New leak details

The lawsuit contains some new details on the scale of the six-month cleanup, which involved recovering and treating nearly 1.7-million litres of contaminated groundwater and digging up 9,200 tonnes of contaminated soil.

Groundwater and soil sampling continued into the summer of 2015.

The municipality's lawsuit seeks general and specific damages, but does not state a dollar amount.

None of the municipality's allegations have been tested in court.

Defence hasnot yet been filed

The companies named in the lawsuit have not filed their defences. CBC News reached out to all three companies, however none were either available or in a position to comment on the lawsuit.

Halifax has launched a separate lawsuit against its insurers who refuse to pay for the cleanup.

No hearing date has been set.

The maximum payout under the policy in dispute is $1 million, far short of the actual cost of the cleanup.

Under Nova Scotia's Limitations of Actions Act, the municipality had until Septemberto file its negligence suit against the companies.