According to Canadian Renewable Energy Corp., three to four barrels of diesel fuel were spilled around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. The fuel was being transferred between tanks on Sea Hound, a vessel operated by Nadro Marine Services Ltd., a contractor based in Port Drove, Ontario. Nadro Marine has been transporting wind turbines from Ogdensburg for the 86-turbine Wolfe Island Wind Project. ...Mark O. Mattson, president of the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, an environmental advocacy group based in Toronto, finds the incident ironic. "It's a bit of a shock. The whole purpose of the wind power project was to help the environment," he said.

Residents along the mile-long shore of Dawson Point, Wolfe Island, have been advised not to drink water from their wells after a fuel spill Wednesday morning.

According to Canadian Renewable Energy Corp., three to four barrels of diesel fuel were spilled around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. The fuel was being transferred between tanks on Sea Hound, a vessel operated by Nadro Marine Services Ltd., a contractor based in Port Drove, Ontario. Nadro Marine has been transporting wind turbines from Ogdensburg for the 86-turbine Wolfe Island Wind Project. Twenty-eight have arrived to date.

CAUSE BEING INVESTIGATED

Public Health Agency of Canada officials visited residents in the Dawson Point area Wednesday morning to assess the situation and advise the public of the spill. The cause of the spill is being determined by Transport Canada.

Janet E. Twining, a senior response officer of the Canadian coast guard, said about 396 gallons of diesel fuel was spilled and several organizations responded to the scene shortly after the incident.

To contain the spill Wednesday morning, Nadro Marine staff deployed a 100-foot boom and the Canadian coast guard, which first responded to the scene, deployed an additional 800-foot boom. The Eastern Canada Response Corp., a private marine oil spill response company, then took over the cleanup and deployed additional booms, oil-absorbent mats and other containment devices.

CLEANUP WRAPPING UP

According to Mark S. Brown, a regional manager of Eastern Canada Response Corp., two of the company's vessels were at the scene Thursday containing the remaining oil along the shoreline. He said the cleanup would be completed Thursday or early this morning.

About seven residents near the site are affected, according to Steve O'Gorman, the manager of marketing & communications at the Canadian Hydro Developers Inc.

He said Canadian Renewable Energy will provide the residents with bottled water until the Ministry of the Environment of the Province of Ontario confirms it is safe to drink from the wells. The water quality test results will come in about a week.

"It's an unfortunate situation," Mr. O'Gorman said. "We take these situations very seriously and we are fully cooperating with the responsible agencies."

Mark O. Mattson, president of the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, an environmental advocacy group based in Toronto, finds the incident ironic.

"It's a bit of a shock. The whole purpose of the wind power project was to help the environment," he said. "With a spill like this, it kind of works in counter of what it started out as."

Wolfe Island is a common route for migrating birds and the spill might have an impact on the marine environment as well, Mr. Mattson said.

He said no diesel spill has occurred in the area for the past 40 years and that Canadian Renewable Energy Corp. should be fined heavily to prevent another environmental hazard in the future.

"This really raises concern of the type of precaution they are taking," Mr. Mattson said.

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