Cleanup begins at Whitehorse tar pit

Preliminary work to clean up the Marwell tar pit near downtown Whitehorse is about to begin.

The tar pit was created after a Second World War oil refinery was dismantled. An oil tar that settled in the bottom of the large storage tanks was scraped out and put into the pit. Waste oil from garages was also dumped in until about 1960.

The cleanup project's manager, Rick Seaman, says the work will begin by assessing the project next month.

"We’re looking at the site to determine what we have here. We have some information from the early 90s that's telling us … what we know. So what we’re doing now is confirming that information, find out also what we don't know about the site, and then we can move into the remediation or cleanup of the site in three or four years," said Seaman.

The 27,000 cubic metre pit is filled with contaminated tar and oil.

The assessment work will determine what the best options are for cleaning-up the site. Options raised in the past included covering it with concrete or digging it up and shipping it to Alberta for disposal.

The Yukon and Federal governments will share the $7 million tab for the cleanup.