"Because of the shape of the slough it's kind of like a natural basin, so it's contained in there," said Chief Connie Big Eagle of Ocean Man First Nation. &quot The) contamination was about 50 feet in diameter." "It appears to be by an old well site that's on Ocean Man land," she added. "The slough is not located within the old well site, it's kind of beside it." Economy Assistant Deputy Minister Doug MacKnight defended the delay in notifying the public, saying cleanup efforts took priority. The pipeline was shut down after the breach was discovered, the province said. Tundra is leading the cleanup, with a dig on-site expected in the next two days. "The excavation I expect to start on Wednesday, to find the damaged pipe," MacKnight said. "It's not until we remove the cover and get down (that we will) be able to identify exactly where the source is. We think it's the general area, but until you remove the cover, you won't really know 100 per cent."

Clint had detected a greasy smell in the air for at least ten days but didn't think anything of it."I never really thought anything about it because there was some new drills down there, but didn't bother," Clint recalled. After days, he said the foul, greasy odour was starting to bother him and on Friday afternoon, he went searching for the smell – that's when he discovered the spill. He said he was "sick and angry" when he first discovered it. "It's not just a little leak when it fails, it gets real terrible real fast."

However, with three pipelines in the area, Energy and Resources Minister Dustin Duncan said odour in the region doesn't necessarily translate to leaks. "We can't say whether or not that person was actually smelling odour from that spill or neighbouring operations," he said.