Report shows Resolute tank farm's spill liner faulty
Water inspection in July found liner meant to keep fuel spills out of soil had rips
Federal documents show some of the liners in the spill containment berms at Resolute’s fuel tank farm were found to be faulty months prior to a gasoline spill.
An estimated 87,000 litres of gasoline leaked from one of the tanks in late October when someone left valves open overnight.
Shortly after the spill, Nunavut’s director of environmental protection Rob Eno told CBC News "all tank farms are required to have a bermed area with a liner underneath so that in the event of a tank failure the product won't seep into the ground but instead it will collect on top of that liner."
But a federal document shows that at least some of those liners had holes in them.
Andrew Keim, a water resources officer with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, filed a municipal water inspection form for Resolute on July 17.
Under the "fuel storage" section of that annual report, he noted "the liner [at the tank farm] was … ripped in a number of locations."
The Nunavut government has sent officials to take samples from the site and determine if any of the gasoline leaked into the ground. There’s no word yet on what they found.