A spill at the Arviat air terminal building on May 16 saw between 3,000 to 4,000 litres of heating oil leak out.
The airport remained open and all airport services are available. Calm Air was temporarily using their cargo facility to operate their flights. The GN is still investigating the cause of the spill and was actively working on the cleanup as of Monday.
The GN informed residents seeking more answers to the problem, that they could contact the GN at edt@gov.nu.ca.
Weichien Chan, manager of communications with the Department of Economic Development and Transportation for the GN, told Kivalliq News that the fuel system for the building developed a leak
“(The system) released fuel into the fuel tank’s secondary containment berm,” said Chan. “An estimated 3,000 to 4,000 litres spilled into the containment berm.
Chen added that municipal staff and a local contractor shut the tank system down, and have pumped the fuel and contaminated water from the berm into drums.
An alternate fuel system was in place to keep the building heated and operational, Chen added.
“Due to the strong smell of fuel, operations on the main floor of the Air Terminal Building were moved to an alternate site on the airport,” Chen said.
An environmental technician was expected to be on site early this week to take air and soil samples and Chen said the results will be shared with Calm Air to assist them in making decisions on when to move operations back into the terminal.