The storage of 50 million litres of diesel fuel on barges frozen in the Hay River is a potential catastrophe, Thebacha MLA Michael Miltenberger says.

The Northern Transportation Company is storing the fuel on the barges until it can be trucked to the N.W.T.'s Diavik diamond mine this winter.

Miltenberger, the former environment minister, says the public was never consulted about the fuel storage.

"There is no contingency plan," he told CBC News this week. "If there's a leak, what happens if the fuel gets under the ice? We're taking an enormous chance here with a water system and environment already under enormous pressure."

Miltenberger says that if the storage containers were on the land the territory's environmental laws would apply, but because they are on the water they fall under federal jurisdiction.

He says no federal agencies are taking any action.