Good to go.
Yep.
Okay.
So the environmental specialists, you said they go on site or near site?
They kind of monitor the area.
So not necessarily on site, but monitor the area through usually what we rely on is just
our mapping system.
So we kind of have an idea.
And so we coordinate with the Department of Natural Resources and any of those local
authorities to kind of keep in context.
So when, as you mentioned, the gas leak that just happened, there was a number of different,
whether it was the sheriff's department or bad rivers, response teams, all of the response
teams, Enbridge.
They all have this coordinated communication and we're a part of that.
And so that's just based on what we have as far as kind of like, I guess, let's say,
for lack of a better word, just the inventory that we have, as far as maps and areas that
we monitor just for on a regular basis, it could be plant habitat or fishery or wildlife
different areas there.
We just are in constant, just constantly monitoring those areas there.
In regards to the gas leak that happened just about just over a week ago, can you take us
back to just a week ago and how the communication came down to your office and your environmental
specialists that this occurred again?
Well, I initially got a lot of my communication comes from the secretary of the DNR.
And so our biologists that we have, there is a communication from the Department of Natural
Resources.
They sent something out where, and it was through email, so that's how we were notified.
So there's, in that whole chain of email, a number of our environmental specialists,
our biologists, and myself included, but I was contacted personally by the secretary
of the DNR.
That's how I was informed of what was happening there.
Because we have strived to improve communication, and so we, it's established between Glifwerk
and the DNR that we should be communicating with each other in that sense, regardless
of what the situation is.
What the situation is.
So is it that when the gas leak happened, Enbridge has to communicate with the DNR?
Yeah, because that's where the permit, the DNR is the permit, issues the permit, so
they're communicating in that sense, and that's how they're bringing.
In that communication, did they share how much gas?
Was leaked?
Not initially, there was just the immediate notification of a gas leak.
So as for myself and our organization, we didn't know what the volume was, and so those
are questions we ask in response, like what, all these different things, well what happened,
what led to that, because we have a concern always for people, if there's families or
people in the area, impact to the resource, asking a number of different questions.
In addition to that, there was a lot of emergency response vehicles, so there was a
lot of local law enforcement, so that was another thing that was, because it had showed
up on social media, basically on the scanner of this emergency response thing, so that
was the other way that we were notified about what happened.
So there was an urgency, you knew something was really bad, something bad had happened
when there was a number of law enforcement responding, and then there was just in addition
to just your county, there was tribal emergency response, as well as Enbridge, and so there
was this kind of, the alert was really high.
Did they answer your question about how many gallons filled?
No, they did not.
As of now, have you been given an estimate?
Yeah, we were later as the, because I have no direct communication, I have not had any
direct communication with Enbridge, I have just been solely communicating with the Department
of Natural Resources, and so I asked those questions, and when I was in communication
with the state, it had not been remediated, it was still active.
So I personally just asked the DNR, is there something you can do to stop that, and because
there's an immediate risk to public safety, there's an immediate public safety risk, and
I stress that to the Secretary of the DNR, to do something, you have to do more than
just ask them, or just to stand there and watch, there has to be something more.
So it was still leaking?
Yeah, it was still active.
What time did it start?
I don't, I don't, don't recall the time.
I'll find it.
And so, I was actually- Sorry, your arms are blocking the microphone?
Thanks.
Oh, sorry.
Can we do that more soon again?
I'm not aware of the time of when the actual leak started, or when the teams were responding,
what I do, what I was, I did receive a call from the Secretary of the DNR, and she made
me aware of what was happening there, and then I talked with our team, our biological
services, our enforcement, and our division of Intergovernmental Affairs to kind of get
an idea, talked with some of our local, our tribal leadership, reached out to them as
well, and made them aware of like the communication that I was receiving, and also asking them
if there is anything that we could do to assist, you know, in whatever capacity that is, but
just generally just asking that question.
I did ask those questions of like, what was the damage, what, if was there any impact
to the resource or any, you know, anything like that, and so there was no immediate
answer or response from the state of Wisconsin, but eventually, you know, as hours went by,
then we started to receive more information, and then as the days had gone on as probably
more of the, you know, I don't want to say investigation, but as the progress of clean
up and things like that, we were able, we were more informed of like what was what happened.
And so the leak stopped and then it's the cleanup effort, so what are some specific steps
that you do to support Bad River in this crisis, this environmental crisis?
Well, the only thing we can really do for Bad River is to just share this with him, share
with them any information that we received that they may have not received, so we check
with them to see, you know, what they've received, because if we don't want to duplicate this
really unnecessary, if they were receiving everything that we've received, but just based
on our assessments that have been done, the collection of data that we have for those
areas, we can just let Bad River know like this area may impact, you know, it could be
access to, you know, rivers or streams or it could be, you know, harvest area for deer
or, you know, or berry collection or anything like that, so we'd just look at, you know,
just through our collection of data to share with them anything that might be relevant
that they should be concerned about.
So, when something like this happens.