Fuel tanks will not be re-installed at airport

At the June 16 council meeting, council passed a motion to not re-install the fuel tanks at the South Shore Regional airport, despite concerns raised by the public.

“The cost of re-installation would be estimated somewhere around $20,000,” said Region of Queens Mayor John Leefe.

Airport manager, Leon Zinck expressed his concerns with fuel not being available at the airport.

For one it will impact his business and secondly, “if there’s no fuel nobody will use the airport, therefore the airport will have to close down,” he told council.

Another person from the public proposed using above ground storage tanks.

A third person thought a public meeting should have taken place about the $250,000.

The fuel leak occurred March 19.

The Region of Queens immediately put in place an action plan to deal with contamination, said the mayor.

“Serandipudously, the provincial government at just about that time offered a $250,000 grant to all small airports in Nova Scotia,” he continued, “and we have used that significantly for covering the cost of decontamination.”

The region has used roughly $240,000 for cleanup purposes.

Retorically, the mayor asked those at the council meeting, “what could be more important than protecting the environment?”

Had the region not received the grant, ratepayers of the Region of Queens would have had to dig into their own pockets to pay for this cleanup.

“That would be equivlant to about five cents on the tax rate,” he added.

“To date we have removed significant tonnages of contaminated soil that’s been taken to the landfill for decontamination,” said the mayor.

Deputy Mayor, Doug Adams noted, more than $400,000 has gone into the South Shore Regional airport over the past eight years.

The airport can continue to operate as an airport, said Mayor Leefe.

“It will continue to be used by the drag racers and we hope by street punishment this summer,” he added.

There are no impediments to council by taking the action to not re-install the fuel tanks with respect to Transport Canada or any federal authorities, he noted.