Gasoline-like substance linked to private residence in Surrey, B.C

SURREY, B.C. – A gasoline-like substance found in the area where the Trans Mountain pipeline runs through Surrey, B.C., has been traced to a private home, the province's environment ministry said Sunday evening.

The pipeline was shut down earlier in the day amid an odour complaint and reports of a gasoline-like substance found in a ditch.

But in a statement Sunday night, the provincial environment ministry said the spill had been "traced to a private residence."

Earlier Sunday, the ministry said it was notified about the smell at 1:15 a.m.

"A (vacuum) truck is on scene and cleaning up sheens as they are found," the initial statement from the ministry said, adding the pipeline was shut down as a "precautionary measure."

Assistant fire chief Shelley Morris with Surrey Fire Services said a call came in around 11 p.m. Saturday night about a gasoline smell in the area.

"We sent someone to investigate and they did find some petroleum products in a ditch," she said in an interview Sunday.

She said there was not much petroleum odour in the area by the evening.

A statement from Trans Mountain said the company was investigating an odour complaint, but had found no evidence the source was the pipeline.

"We are doing air monitoring in the area and there is no risk to the public at this time," it said.

The existing Trans Mountain pipeline was owned by Kinder Morgan Canada until earlier this year, when the federal government bought it for $4.5 billion.

The Federal Court of Appeal has quashed Ottawa's approval of a plan to triple the pipeline's capacity, ruling it was done without a proper review of environmental impacts or adequate consultation of Indigenous people.