Oil spill cleanup costing Tyne Valley church thousands of dollars

TYNE?VALLEY?- Close to $20,000 has already been spent cleaning up a large leak of fluid through a pinhole in the bottom of an oil tank at the Tyne Valley Presbyterian Church.
The leak was detected Feb. 3 and has consumed members of the congregation ever since.
"That is major," board chairman David Sudsbury said of the expense to date incurred by the church, which didn't have insurance on the oil tank.
"We are down to the bare bones right now," he said Tuesday night.
A public meeting on the future of the cleanup and of the church itself was slated to be held Tuesday, but has been postponed until next Monday.
"Environment was up today and took samples and they look favourable but we won't get the confirmation back until Friday," said Sudsbury late Tuesday.
"They have to go to a lab in Fredericton (N.B.) to get confirmation but they were a lot lower then they were previous to the last bunch.
"One particular spot I think we are out of it. With the analysis in Fredericton, we should be able to determine if we can seal it and backfill it but we will know more about that we get the confirmation on Friday and we will hold our meeting on Monday evening.
"We are hoping for the best. Right now we are not in bad shape at all, as far as the levels are concerned."
There is an additional spot that will need to be dug up but it is hoped that the oil will not be very deep in this additional area, said Sudsbury.
He fears that ongoing cleanup could cost tens of thousands of dollars that may result in the need to put a lien on the property.
The church, one of four in the Richmond Bay charge, was already experiencing dwindling numbers before the mishap with average attendance for church service at about 20 people over the past year.
"We're hit hard," he said of the damaging spill. "We sure didn't need this."
Since the spill was detected, services have been held in the basement of the manse.
Sudsbury, who has been a member of the church for about 30 years, says the Richmond Bay charge is now facing the possibility of downsizing the number of churches in the parish.