Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (May 06/01) - Nunavut's practical gas tests on snowmobiles confirmed what everybody already knows -- bad gas is wrecking snowmobile engines.

When earlier tests from England found gas in the Baffin and Kivalliq regions is missing a cleansing additive, the Department of Public Works did more practical tests. The first used bad gas in one snowmobile and the same gas infused with the missing additive in the other.

Results found brown gummy buildup in both engines and little difference in the amount of engine deposits.

But the second test compared Baffin's bad gas with gas from Kugluktuk -- clean fuel originally from another supplier.

The results were indisputable. The snowmobile running on clean gas from Alberta was virtually deposit-free. The other engine was covered with brown gunk -- the buildup was 80 per cent higher compared with the other engine.

The bad gas is supplied by Northern Transportation Company Ltd. and comes from New York. "There are provisions in the contract that govern our relations in the event of problems," said Premier Paul Okalik.

He said the government is considering legal action and is looking into providing compensation to those with damaged motor vehicles.

Okalik said the government is contractually obligated to provide results to the supplier before discussing a refund.

He added the government will consider lost harvesting time when compensating snowmobile owners.

About 10 million litres of bad gas remains unused. Shipping in new gas is impossible because of ice conditions.

"What we're trying to do now is fix that gas," said Okalik.

That may prove difficult. The first round of practical tests found that infusing the gas with the missing additive had little effect.

Okalik stressed that earlier tests found no problems with the gas, suggesting testing procedures may be inadequate.

"We'll have to improve our system," said Okalik.