N.L. Inuit community copes with recurring gas shortage
Last Updated: Saturday, July 7, 2007 | 10:19 AM NT
CBC News
Local gasoline supplies have run out for residents of an Inuit community on Labrador's coast for the seventh straight summer.
The Nunatsiavut government tried to resolve the recurring problem in Rigolet by putting in a new gas station last fall, but the tanks went dry in April.
Nunatsiavut First Minister Tony Andersen said people used more gas than expected over the winter.
"We didn't put enough fuel in Rigolet last fall," he said. "We have plans now to add additional capacity over the summer, and hopefully next winter we won't run into this problem again."
People are now relying on barrels of gas that are shipped in by plane and longliner and they’re back on a gas ration of 25 litres a day.
Derek Pottle, a fisheries officer and Inuit hunter in Rigolet, said he doesn’t think that will take his truck and speed boat very far.
"Your whole life is just disrupted in the community and outside the community," he said. "You can't go off on the land like people are used to."
The gas problem in Rigolet goes back to December 2000, when the privately operated local station closed after a fuel spill.
Pottle said people are angry that the situation still hasn't been resolved.
"This is starting to be a joke all throughout Labrador," he said. "For the last seven years, the residents of Rigolet have just been embarrassed by, you know, two or three times a year, running out of gas."
Depending on ice conditions on the north coast, Andersen said a fuel tanker could reach the now-ice-free port at Rigolet by next week.
