Prince Albert mayor: Husky Energy provides $5 million ‘good faith’ payment for water claims

One of the water pipelines snakes towards Prince Albert’s water treatment plant. Photo by Chelsea Laskowski

Husky Energy has filled a City of Prince Albert bank account with $5 million, related to the costs incurred since late July’s oil spill in the North Saskatchewan River.

Prince Albert mayor Greg Dionne calls this a “good faith” payment that indicates Husky is following through on its commitment to take full responsibility for the spill.

So far, half of those funds are spoken for by the emergency response costs for the city.

This includes two separate water pipelines that are hauling safe water up to 30 kilometres to be treated for Prince Albert residents and other rural customers.

Prince Albert expects to spend $2 million per month maintaining those water pipelines.

Other costs the City has filed claims for include life guards at the Kinsmen Water Park who were laid off for several weeks, and the hours worked as Prince Albert formed a team to react to the sudden threats to the water supply.