The headline could read, families’ homes destroyed, business left in ruins, jobs lost and long-term environmental damage.

Hurricane Katrina? No, Hurricane Imperial Oil.

One could equate the ongoing state of affairs at the corner of Hwy 16 and Columbia Street as the eye of a hurricane impacting our beautiful little mountain town.

Two neighbouring families were uprooted and their homes destroyed due to hydrocarbon contamination in the past two years, and last week, a relatively new business was summarily shut down forcing 13 people out of work.

The only difference here is a hurricane does its damage in a shorter period of time.

Loretta Mehr’s Hi-Way Diner was evicted on Sept. 30 after the oil giant purchased the building, which also houses 7/Eleven.

Mehr, who took over the space after Blue Fin Sushi Bar relocated to Main Street, had only been in business for three months when she was notified to get out.

“When Imperial Oil bought the building in July, that’s when the problems started,” Mehr told The Interior News. “I feel like I have had my heart ripped out.”

In July, Imperial Oil told Mehr that she had to have building and health inspectors come and inspect the restaurant to make sure it was up to code.

“I had four building inspectors out here and they said I was good to go,” Mehr said. “Then they had inspectors come up from Vancouver and said it would cost $50,000 to bring it up to code.”

John Harding, from Imperial Oils’ public affairs department said Imperial’s inspectors determined that the building would require a “sizeable investment” to be brought up to code for fire safety.

“The cost of fixing the diner space just didn’t make sense to Imperial,” he said. “The tenant was given the appropriate notice that the tenancy agreement would not be renewed.”

Let’s be clear, Imperial Oil has not broken any provincial or municipal law.

But they have broken something far more important — respect of the community.

As it sits now, Imperial Oil is arguably the proud owner of the most eyesores and chainlink fences in Smithers.

Adjacent to the building are two lots which proudly scream at tourists travelling along Hwy 16 — keep out!

The weed-infested brownfields are a blight on Smithers carefully-grown image of a quaint, beautiful town.

But again, by just erecting a chain link fence with keep out signs and letting them go to fallow, Imperial Oil is complying with the laws of the land.

As well, Imperial Oil has no obligation to work with Mehr to keep her business and employees gainfully employed.

In both cases, it is cheaper for them to just let those sites rot. They aren’t in the tourism or economic prosperity for Smithers business. They are in it for your dollars at the pump. — that’s it and that’s all.

What’s unfortunate is Imperial Oil’s obvious disregard for the community in which they do business.

With a municipal election coming in just a few short months, the question of how to combat the Columbia Street hurricane needs to be on the agenda.

While Imperial Oil has complied with all municipal laws so far, maybe its time some of those laws were changed.

One thing is for certain, if it was Mother Nature who shut down businesses and forced families to move and damaged the environment, there would be immediate government action.

The difference here is you may not be able to legislate Mother Nature, but you certainly can legislate Imperial Oil.