Gas Plus told to clean Bowness site before July

The province says Gas Plus has until the end of next month to clean up a fuel leakaround a Bowness gas station.

Gas Plus notified Alberta Environment last spring that 9,000 litres of gas had escaped the site.

Early this year three families in the northwest neighbourhood were told by provincial officials to vacate their homes after air tests revealed high levels of benzine and other chemicals.

Subsequent reports have indicated the leak may have spread to as many as 15 homes.

The company, which was slapped with an environmental protection order last December to expedite the clean up of the site, has now been told to finish the job by the end of June. And all of the work must be done by third-party environmental professionals, the province said.

In February dozens of local residents confronted representatives of Alberta Health Services and Alberta Environment at a public meeting, demanding to know why they were not immediately told about the leak.