Hay River (Jan 08/07) - A former territorial environment minister is worried about millions of litres of diesel fuel being stored in barges frozen into the Hay River.

"It's a very high-risk situation," said Thebacha MLA Michael Miltenberger.

These Northern Transportation Company Ltd. barges are among 22 that, when all filled, will store 50 million litres of diesel fuel on the Hay - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Since the fall, the fuel has been stored in barges by Northern Transportation Company Ltd. (NTCL). It will be offloaded and trucked to the Diavik diamond mine, which owns the fuel, when the winter road opens.

As of Jan. 4, 18 barges have been filled and four more will be. When all are full, the stored fuel will total 50 million litres.

"The fact is it's a massive amount of fuel on one of the largest watersheds in Canada," Miltenberger said.

In particular, he is concerned the fuel is being stored on single-hull barges.

"If there's a leak under the ice, I don't know what kind of contingency plans are in place," he added.

The fuel comes to Hay River by truck and rail from the South.

Sunny Munroe, the communications manager with NTCL, said the barges are designed to store fuel.

Munroe added Transport Canada approved the storage plan and inspects the storage sites. "No one wants to see any kind of incident here."

Most of the barges are moored at NTCL's loading area, while others are near the company's shipyard.

"A spill response plan is in place," Munroe said, noting it was developed by NTCL and Diavik.

The storage sites also have 24-hour security, the barges are checked regularly, and only trained and certified workers pump the fuel on and off the barges.

Munroe also said there is no requirement to have double-hulled barges for such work until 2015.

She pointed out NTCL has previously stored fuel in barges during the winter.

In 2004, the company had 28 barges at two different locations on the Beaufort Sea to supply fuel to winter drilling operations.

Fuel has also been stored in barges for a client in Baker Lake.

"It's not something new," Munroe said, adding small amounts of fuel have also been stored in barges in Hay River.

Miltenberger, who noted the matter came to his attention when he was environment minister, said it is partly a jurisdictional issue.

The federal government has jurisdiction over the river, while territorial laws would apply if the fuel was stored on land.

"The federal regulations are very lax," Miltenberger said, noting fuel would never be allowed to be stored on land in single-wall tanks.

Munroe said she understands Miltenberger's concerns, and would be willing to explain the storage process to him. "I would be happy to give him a tour."

The fuel is being stored in Hay River because of last year's short winter road season, which forced Diavik to fly some fuel from the South into the mine.

This year, Diavik decided to have the fuel stored closer to the winter road so it could all be trucked to the mine site.