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IKPIARJUK/ARCTIC BAY - Arctic Bay's new airport is scheduled to open in the spring of 2010, but construction has encountered some unexpected difficulties which have not impressed the community's MLA.

Ron Elliot, newly-elected to represent the Quttiktuq riding, says the new airport has him and some of his constituents concerned.

The construction site of Arctic Bay Airport's terminal building last November. The piles for the foundation are in, and construction of the shell of the building is set to commence this February. - photo courtesy of Ron Elliot

During the early stages of the airport's planning there were concerns about the proximity of the runway to Lake Marcel, the lake which serves as the hamlet's freshwater reservoir. The lake is a kilometre away from the runway where airplanes will be de-iced with toxic antifreezing chemicals.

Environmental and engineering assessments conducted before construction began stated the runoff from the runway would drain away from Lake Marcel. If there is a lot of runoff it could go into the river below the lake and drain into the ocean, according to John Hawkins, director of transportation and policy for Nunavut's Department of Economic Development and Transportation. Even so, the chemicals would not contaminate Lake Marcel.

But because the airport project is $3.8 million over budget because of problems encountered with the permafrost, Elliot wonders whether the assessment of the runway's drainage might be similarly flawed.

"If engineers and construction people did their job properly, how did the permafrost get broken?" he asked.

Hawkins said a comparison can't be made between the runway's drainage and the problems of permafrost erosion. Calculating drainage by measuring the land's elevation is "cut-and-dried," he said. "Water always flows downhill."

By contrast, building on permafrost is always tricky, he said.

"You're never quite sure how it's going to react," he said. "To get a runway flat enough and smooth enough you're in a combination of cut and fill."

In order to build a flat runway on top of the rocky tundra, engineers need to fill dips in the terrain and remove peaks. Filling is preferable because it's more stable, but often building a flat runway simply isn't possible without cutting into some permafrost.

Warm weather conditions can cause exposed permafrost to melt and erode after a recent cut. That erosion necessitated new engineering work and tonnes of backfill, causing the project's cost overrun, Hawkins said.

Elliot also expressed concern about possible fuel dumping from the planes flying into Arctic Bay. On rare occasions, large planes such as Hercules have to dump fuel to make themselves lighter before making an emergency landing. Elliot worried such a fuel dump could land in Lake Marcel.

"They would never do that over a populated area," Hawkins responded.