Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

HAY RIVER
Environmental and structural concerns have resulted in plans by Petro-Canada to shut down its fuel tanks on Vale Island and use a different method of offloading its product.

The fuel tanks, located near Fisherman's Wharf, will be emptied over the course of the next few months.

Josh Kincaid, wholesale business manager with Petro-Canada, said both concerns factored in the decision.

"When the facility was built 30 or 40 years ago, fuel was barged up the river, which explains the need for close proximity to the river," he said, referring to the Mackenzie River and Hay River, respectively. "Now that all diesel comes by rail, there is no need for Suncor (Energy Inc.) to unnecessarily subject themselves to the potential risk associated with operating near a large body of water."

That risk includes fuel potentially spilling into the river.

A partnership between Suncor and Canadian National Railway (CN) was created and the latter will operate a transload facility to offload the northern-bound diesel.

"The fuel will continue to come from our refinery in Edmonton, but it will now be pumped from railcars directly into trucks, as opposed to into the tanks," Kincaid said. "CN came to Suncor with a proposal and solution for us. The tanks will be decommissioned in the fall and put in a state where there is no risk for accidents."

That means removing the stairs that lead up the tanks, among other modifications.

Kincaid said there is no exact date for when the tanks would be emptied, but CN will begin operating the transload facility around mid-September.

The Petro-Canada spokesperson said a few trial-and-error runs would take place to make sure everything is working properly and, once everything is reliable and functioning, the fuel tanks will be closed down.

"We're really trying to minimize the impact on our customers," he said.

Jason Vaillant, Suncor director of corporate communications, said nothing will change for Petro-Canada customers.

"We are going to continue to serve our customers the same way we always have," he said. "It's not about us doing anything different, other than using another method to load and offload our product."

Suncor Energy Inc. and Petro-Canada merged in March 2009 to create the country's largest energy company.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.