KANGIQTUGAAPIK/CLYDE RIVER - A new bridge stands over the Clyde River, completed on July 18 as part of Qikiqtaaluk Logistics's project to clean up the old U.S. Coast Guard site at Cape Christian, 16 km outside the community.

The new 16-metre bridge crossing the Clyde River was completed July 18. The bridge connects the community to good hunting and fishing to the northwest, and connects Qikiqtaaluk Logistics to its work cleaning up the old military base at Cape Christian. - photo courtesy of Qikiqtaaluk Corporation

Qikiqtaaluk Logistics is building the 18-metre bridge and a road to Cape Christian, which the company will use as it cleans up the Cold War-era navigation base there. The site also will connect hunters with an area of plentiful narwhals otherwise difficult to access except in winter.

Once complete, the 16-km road will include eight culverts to cross creeks and streams along the way while still allowing fish to travel along their traditional routes, a requirement for the project to get the go-ahead from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

The overall operation will bring a lasting benefit to the community, said Harry Flaherty, projects director for parent company Qikiqtaaluk Corporation. He said the plan has been to involve the community to a much greater extent than if any other company did the work.

"I don't think any other project's been done this way," said Flaherty.

In contrast to other remediation operations, Qikiqtaaluk is flying in and out of Clyde River airport instead of using the military airstrip on the base. Supplies are being purchased locally and 80 per cent of the on-site workforce is local hires from Clyde River. Flaherty said the operation would purchase more than 165,000 litres of fuel from in Clyde River.

"We are utilizing local in every way we can," Flaherty said.

While the road is still incomplete, Qikiqtaaluk got its equipment to the site by ferrying it across the river in the fall of 2008 and then building a winter access road to move it the rest of the way in May.

On-site, the main concern is dealing with chemical contaminants. The old building was lined with asbestos and much of its interior paint contains PCBs. The building is being demolished and Qikiqtaaluk is creating a landfill to contain the chemicals. The most severely toxic materials will be shipped south by sealift.

After the cleanup, the site will be monitored for 25 years to make sure the landfill structure stays intact and there's no leakage of chemicals into the groundwater. About 3,000 cubic metres of fuel-contaminated soil will be gathered into a land farm, fertilized and rotated every week so soil micro-organisms can break down the fuel.

"We want to be careful we don't give them anything that's hazardous or potentially contaminated," said Natalie Plato, director of contaminated sites and programs for the federal Department of Indian and Northern Affairs.

Qikiqtaaluk is absorbing the cost of the bridge and road construction, in part because it strengthened the company's proposal to INAC for the clean-up contract.

Most of the old military sites in need of cleanup are far from any community, so such direct community involvement is not possible in such cases, Plato said.