Crews seek source of Saskatchewan oil spill on aboriginal land

TORONTO (Reuters) - The oil spill clean up on an aboriginal reserve in western Canada continued on Tuesday as crews prepared to excavate the site to determine the source of the leak, the provincial government of Saskatchewan said. A pipeline in the province leaked 200,000 liters (52,834 gallons) of oil last week, according to the government, which was notified of the leak on Friday. Vacuum trucks are on the site to remove oil and contaminated soil. The breach leaked the oil onto farmland at the Ocean Man First Nation, 140 km (87 miles) southeast of the provincial capital of Regina. No residences are close to the spill site but it is near a cemetery which is considered sacred land by the band. Tundra Energy Marketing Inc., which has a line adjacent to the spill, is leading cleanup efforts, but has not publicly confirmed its pipeline is the source of the leak. Crescent Point Energy Corp said it also has assets in the area that collect crude from its southeast Saskatchewan production, but they are not responsible for the leak. Crescent spokesman Trent Stangl said Tundra had notified Crescent Point on Friday of a "suspected anomaly on a portion of their system" and that if the problem persists, Crescent Point may have to divert around 1,000 barrels a day of its crude heading to facilities in neighboring Manitoba. Tundra, a privately held unit of Canadian grain trading and energy conglomerate James Richardson and Sons Ltd, released a statement late on Monday saying it is cooperating with all levels of government and will ensure "the affected land is restored appropriately." Chief Connie Big Eagle will meet with the band's land advisers, industry experts and government officials on Tuesday to determine next steps once the initial cleanup has been completed. "There has to be a time frame set that they follow up every week, every month, every season depending on what the weather can cause, and every year, until Ocean Man is satisfied that yes, everything is okay," she said. Oil pipelines are viewed by the oil-rich provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan as a critical lifeline to move crude to the coast, but they have drawn fierce opposition from environmental and indigenous groups. "It just raises the issue yet again, that if you are going to build these pipelines, you're going to be placing communities and water and land at risk," said Gretchen Fitzgerald, national program director at the Sierra Club Canada Foundation. (Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Alan Crosby)