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‘Shut me out’: Manitoba rancher says CN mum about oil spill on his land

Feb 18, 2019 | 12:15 PM

ST-LAZARE, Man. — A Manitoba rancher says he’s being shut out by CN after a derailment spilled oil on an oxbow of the Assiniboine River he uses to water his cattle in summer.

Jayme Corr says he’s received little information about the spill Saturday south of St. Lazare.

A government spokesman says there’s no risk the oil will get into the river, which runs through the valley where the derailment occurred.

Corr says oil is sitting on ice and will run into the river in spring if it’s not all scraped and cleaned up.

Canadian National Railway has released few details about the derailment, which involved 37 cars.

Corr says a firefighter told him on the weekend that it looked as if seven cars had split open.

Cleanup crews from CN and investigators from the Transportation Safety Board are at the spill site.

Corr says he can sometimes smell the oil from the spill, which happened about a kilometre from his home.

 

The Canadian Press

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