Fish plant fuel spill gets cleanup
Efforts to clean two decade old diesel leak to cost between $800,000 to $1.1 million, according to organization responsible for tackling project
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Monday, July 25, 2016
HAY RIVER
A fuel spill from years ago - described as a "dripper" - is being cleaned up on the grounds of the fish plant in Hay River.
"There was a diesel tank that was there. It was a steel pipe, and it leaked many years ago and we're just fixing everything up," said David Bergunder, the director of field operations for Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation (FFMC) in Winnipeg.
Bergunder said the leak probably originated about 20 years ago when fishermen could get diesel fuel from a tank.
"It was discovered a few years ago," he said. "We started doing some drilling and some testing, and then we realized what exactly had happened and we're just cleaning it up. It's the right thing to do."
Bergunder said it is not known how long the pipe was leaking.
"It was a dripper," he said. "That's the worst ones."
Bergunder could not provide an estimate of how much diesel made its way into the ground.
"It doesn't take very much to make a spill," he said. "I don't know how much was spilled per se. But if you spill gas on the ground, you see how it just runs. If you're looking for an exact number, I don't know what that number is."
Whatever the number of litres spilled, the cleanup has resulted in a large excavation site next to the fish plant.
The fuel is contained to the fish plant grounds, which is federal land.
"Where you see that hole, that's it," said Bergunder. "That's all there is. There's no more."
The contaminated soil is not being removed from the site but is being treated there.
The soil is dug up and placed in different piles to be aerated to remove the diesel fuel.
"The machine there is turning all that dirt over all the time," Bergunder said. "That's basically the process. So you've taken the material out of the hole. You treat it, and you keep testing it and testing it all the way through the process. And then after that's treated, you put it back into the hole."
Treating the soil on site is quicker and easier that removing it to another location, he said. "You can spend a lot of time running around with moving dirt to here and to there. You can do it right on site."
The cleanup is costing in the range of $800,000 to $1.1 million, said Bergunder.
The project began in June.
"Our objective is to have it completed by this summer," said Bergunder, noting that depends on the weather.
Bergunder said the fuel spill is a separate issue from the ongoing considerations of what to do with the fish plant - whether to renovate or build a new one - involving the FFMC, the territorial government and the NWT Fishermen's Federation, which now rents the site.
Mayor Brad Mapes is pleased to see the cleanup taking place.
"We're looking for the fish plant to move forward so that we can get a better fish plant for the fishermen in the area who take part in selling fish," said Mapes. "The environmental cleanup was a key part of going forward. They've still got to come to a decision on what they're going to do as far as the plant. They're looking at rebuilding or trying to work with the building they've got. Definitely we want to see it moving forward, and that environmental cleanup was a key thing for our community."
