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Silence leads to worries

Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Oct 20/04) - Rankin Inlet Coun. David Ittinuar said he's worried by the lack of information from Transport Canada surrounding a July 22 diesel oil spill in Rankin Inlet.

He said the declaration on local radio by Community and Government Services (CGS) Deputy Minister Tom Rich that there was nothing to worry about did little to ease that concern.

"I'm kind of curious about why he didn't address the concern council brought up about the hoses being the possible cause of these leaks," says Ittinuar.

"I'm not satisfied with the Nunavut government's response because there was nothing concrete in the statement."

The 1,000-litre spill was the second in the Kivalliq region in the past two years involving the Mokami, a shallow draft tanker owned by Woodward Oil Ltd.

The vessel spilled 1,500 litres of gasoline during fuel delivery to Coral Harbour on Aug. 8, 2003.

The Coral spill was determined to be caused by a hose coupling.

The same problem is suspected to have caused the Rankin spill.

Transport Canada spokesperson Susan McLellan said she can't release any further information on the Rankin mishap because the investigation is still ongoing.

The department is also investigating a recent spill in Pond Inlet by a second Woodward tanker, the Tuvaq.

"It's difficult to predict how long an investigation is going to take," said McLellan.

"I checked with our Marine branch on Oct. 8 as to when we might be able to expect some conclusion to the investigations.

"The Pond Inlet investigation is expected to be concluded within a couple of weeks, but there was no indication as to when the Rankin investigation will be concluded."

Ittinuar said he's worried a major spill could be looming on the horizon if Transport Canada doesn't fully address the situation. With the amount of times communities need to be refueled by aircraft, Ittinuar said he doesn't agree with the deputy minister that things are well.

"Add in the bad gas fiasco and the recent spills, and I'm not feeling all that comfortable just because CGS says everything's OK."