YTG accused of stalling tank farm development

The minister responsible for lands in the Yukon is being accused of holding back a large private residential development on what is known as the old tank farm.

Liberal MLA Gary McRobb made the accusation in the legislature Thursday. He suggested Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Archie Lang has been anything but helpful in moving the proposal along.

“Why did the minister promise to work with the owners, but in fact is really working against them?” McRobb asked.

He went as far as suggesting the government is being unco-operative because it simply doesn’t want any competition from the private sector in the area of land development.

The proponents of the project, land owner Mike Mickey and developer Brad Taylor, maintain the 57- hectare site has been remediated to the point where it’s suitable for a 350-lot development. The area is located between the Valleyview and Hillcrest subdivisions on the south side of Hamilton Boulevard.

There is ample scientific analysis from local and national environmental engineering firms supporting the location for residential development, Mickey has maintained in the past.

But the Yukon government has continually registered its objections with the National Energy Board, which has jurisdiction over release of the land as the tank farm and pipeline from Skagway were licensed by the board.

Mickey and Taylor went public last year with their concerns over the Yukon government’s continuous objections, with apparently no hard evidence to substantiate its concerns.

And it doesn’t appear as though the government has an independent firm refuting the conclusions of the professional firms hired by Mickey.

Premier Dennis Fentie told McRobb during question period that he (the Liberal) was on nothing more than a fishing expedition, and that he’s come up again with nothing more than a red herring.

The government has legitimate environment concerns, the premier insisted.

“We want to ensure here in Yukon that any future environmental issues and/or liabilities are not going to be accepted by Yukon citizens, nor should they be dumped on the proponent who is proposing this particular development,” Fentie told McRobb.

He said his government has no problem with the National Energy Board allowing the project to proceed if it’s willing to absolve the territory of any future responsibility for environmental problems arising from the tank farm and pipeline route.

The board decided in late February to hold a public hearing into the issue, as the matter is now 12 years old and it’s still not resolved, board spokeswoman Tara O’Donovan, a former Whitehorse resident, explained from Calgary this morning.

She said the board will also be holding a technical meeting later this summer prior to the public hearing process.

“They want to get the various environmental specialists at the same table to resolve the issues or get better clarity on what the issues are,” she said.

O’Donovan said the board will have its own technical experts at that conference. Once it’s over, the board will be in a better position to determine when to hold its public hearing, and whether it will be a hearing based on written submissions or an oral public hearing, she said.

O’Donovan said she could not speculate whether the public hearing would be held this year.

McRobb told the legislature yesterday the Yukon government has refused an invitation to take part in a mediation process to resolve the issues.

All this resistance to major, private residential development proposal comes as the city is in desperate need of housing lots, he said.

“As the minister knows, for more than 10 years the National Energy Board has been dealing with issues related to this site, including remediation of
the environmental concerns resulting from its past use as a fuel storage tank farm,” McRobb said.

“But it turns out that there is only one intervener that has been holding up the process for a number of years: the Yukon government.

“For the record, can the minister indicate exactly what his concerns are for holding up the process for so long?”

Fentie said there is a large environmental contamination associated with the sites in question, though he did not provide specifics.

The Yukon government is the primary developer of urban and rural residential lots in the Yukon.