N.W.T. government still working out environmental liability from NTCL deal

Taxpayers may be footing the bill for the environmental cleanup of NTCL properties, and the government says it does not yet know how much cleanup may be required.

The territorial government bought NTCL's assets, including some properties, in December for $7.5 million

Jimmy Thomson · CBC News · Posted: Jan 19, 2017 8:30 AM EST | Last Updated: January 19, 2017

Some of the NTCL lands purchased by the territorial government could contain contaminated soil or buildings, but an environmental assessment has not yet been done. (photo courtesy Mark Lyon)

Taxpayers may be footing a substantial bill for the environmental cleanup of NTCL properties – though the government says it doesn't yet know exactly how substantial the bill will be.

The territorial government bought the assets of the Northern Transportation Company Limited in December for $7.5 million. The assets include tugs, barges, and a number of properties across the territory, some of which could be contaminated and in need of remediation.

The public works department has not yet worked out how much environmental cleanup it may be on the hook for.

"We have to know exactly what we have so we can make responsible decisions on this as we go forward," says John Vandenberg, the territory's assistant deputy minister of energy.

"Right now we're working to complete an inventory of all these properties included in the purchase, and it is a long list, so it's going to take us a while to get through it."

When the deal was being finalized in December, Vandenberg told CBC that the assets were purchased to make sure they stayed in the territory in order to keep northern communities supplied with fuel. He said the government does not intend to get into the barge delivery business, but rather intends to contract the work out to a third party.

Many of the lands, however, will be under the ownership of the territory, including the shipyard — and with them, the environmental liability.

MLAs RJ Simpson and Julie Green have publicly expressed concern about the potential liability, with Simpson suggesting that the cleanup should be the responsibility of the federal government.

NTCL's Hay River properties, which were centrepieces of the deal, do not have any security deposits against the cost of cleanup.

"The GNWT has not collected securities on these leases because they predate the applicable legislation that requires security," a spokesperson for the territory's lands department told CBC in October.

The company shipped fuel and other environmentally hazardous materials, like uranium, for decades.