Concern over fuel spill cleanup
Housing association says it's following Department of Environment guidelines
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Monday, July 20, 2015
KUGAARUK/PELLY BAY
A fuel spill in Kugaaruk is still in a state of repair almost three years since the incident.
The Cambridge Bay Housing Association is still in the process of cleaning up a fuel tank spill which happened in February 2013 at this Kugaaruk home. The tenant worries about children playing near the area. |
Jeannie Illuitok, who lives in a public housing unit in the community, had her fuel tank break in February 2013 and the site hasn't been cleaned up fully.
"This is the third year now that it is not done," said Illuitok.
"They dug the back and it's pretty deep. Housing has still never finished cleaning the fuel spill."
A faulty valve on her fuel storage tank burst during an extreme cold snap in the winter of 2013. The site has been excavated by the Cambridge Bay Housing Association, but Illuitok worries that the hole is a danger for children playing in the area.
"Lots of kids always start playing around there and I have to tell them not to play near it," she said.
Just over a week ago, the housing association put yellow tape around the area, for which Illuitok is thankful.
"They finally put yellow tape around it for people not to go near it," she said.
Ron Sutton, housing authority manager, said the fuel spill was cleaned immediately and his organization has been taking all of the appropriate steps with regard to regulations in the cleanup process.
"There was cleanup done the day it happened," said Sutton.
"The whole process is very strictly controlled by the Department of Environment and is overseen at every stage by the Department of Environment and, once a spill is reported, we take our instructions from them on how to proceed."
The area was excavated and contaminated soil was removed. That soil then went through a treatment process to be cleaned up. Sutton is waiting on a response from the ministry on whether the soil is clean and the hole can be filled back up.
"We're waiting to hear back on testing from the ministry that the cleanup meets their standards," he said.
He said his organization was under the impression that the current cleanup meets the ministry's standards but is still waiting for confirmation from more testing.
"That's why the tape went up," he said.
Current water pooling in the hole is just groundwater, he added.
"As a government agency, we take our responsibility very seriously," said Sutton. "We try to the best of our ability to respond to these things in a safe and efficient way. The spill occurred during the winter. It's difficult to conduct a full cleanup during the winter, as you can well imagine, and in the spring when the weather permits us, we clean them up."
He said the organization follows all of the Department of Environment guidelines closely and is proactive about inspecting tanks and replacing old ones.
"We're heavily focused on avoiding these spills in the first place, but accidents do happen," said Sutton.
