NUNAVUT - Collapsible fabric fuel tanks have been approved for use in Nunavut after debate about what tanks were acceptable began over a year ago.

The fuel tanks are made of fabric and hold up to 100,000 litres of fuel, according to SEI Industries, the manufacturer of the fuel tanks used in Nunavut.

Collapsible fabric fuel storage tanks like these have been approved for use in Nunavut. - photo courtesy of SEI Industries

Tracy Lacroix-Wilson, communications advisor for Environment Canada, said in an e-mail that regulations put in place in June 2008 allowed bladder tanks to be used in Nunavut.

"Environment Canada has since brought into place a more modern regulatory regime for fuel storage tanks on federal and aboriginal lands, which took effect in June 2008. These regulations allow the collapsible fuel bladders to be treated like traditional storage tanks," she said.

But according to Paul Reichard, divisional manager for SEI, Environment Canada did not approve the use of the tanks last year because they were not registered with Underwriters Laboratories of Canada (ULC).

"Last year on June 12, Environment Canada published a new set of fuel storage regulations under the Environmental Protection Act," Reichard said.

"The problem was the way the regulation was written. It was said that the fuel tanks that have this number, ULC, are OK," Reichard said. "Bladder tanks did not have a ULC-listed number, nor will they, because there is only one manufacturer in Canada and only a handful worldwide so there’s no specification written by the ULC."

Environment Canada will issue an official technical guidance document on collapsible fabric storage tanks in August.

Rodney Cooper, vice president of Baffinland Iron Mines said Baffinland has been using the tanks for more than two years.

"These collapsible fuel tanks are intended to be temporary installations as opposed to steel tanks which would have a longer life," he said. "They're less expensive and they're easier to set up, but they're intended for temporary use. They're only usable for a temporary period of time, maybe five years or so, so the drawback is if you want to store fuel longer than that you would have to replace them earlier than if you had a steel tank installation (which) might be good for many decades."

Reichard said there are many uses for the tanks, including cleaning up old mining sites.

"The bladder is a very lightweight, inexpensive means of bringing a large volume of fuel storage to a site," he said. "They take all the empty drums, they find that they usually have some fuel in them still, they pump all that into a bladder and clean the drums and crush them and send them south for recycling."

He said the fuel can then sometimes be processed for re-use.

"Meanwhile they have this one big tank that has a whole bunch of contaminated fuel, which they can then filter, process and then use up," he said. "There’s a lot of uses."

Reichard said the regulations are a good thing.

"It gives manufacturers like ourselves and operators, industrial mining companies or military clients some rules to follow and for inspectors like INAC, now they have something to enforce against, which is important," he said.