Storage for winter propane latest Churchill snag

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This article was published 06/10/2017 (2980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Negotiations to transfer Churchill’s troubled train line and port to local ownership have almost derailed, sources tell the Free Press, as bureaucrats scramble to find space for an emergency propane shipment just days before it arrives.

A ship carrying 2.2 million litres of propane is set to arrive Sunday at the Port of Churchill, paid for by the province. But sources say Manitoba’s Sustainable Development ministry has blocked requests to put the fuel in Omnitrax’s tank farm because the tanks are old.

The sources, who are familiar with the fuel resupply and ownership negotiations, said the same issue came up this summer, when Denver-based Omnitrax — owner of the Hudson Bay Railway — started relying on larger fuel shipments instead of gradual rail arrivals. The rail link into Churchill has been severed since May because of flood damage.

They said multiple alternatives have been considered, including the risky prospect of keeping it on rails in empty tank cars.

A spokeswoman for Manitoba Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires wouldn’t get into details.

“The current shipment of propane can remain in the containers used to ship it to Churchill,” wrote Andrea Slobodian, suggesting the fuel is stored in stackable tanks.

Documents obtained through freedom-of-information laws show Transport Canada raised the issue four months ago.

“This tank farm will need to be certified as an oil-handling facility, as it has not been utilized in a number of years, and was last certified in 2012,” reads a June 11 note to federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau, adding “officials will expedite recertification.”

An undated note later adds “if the community became dependent on the port for its fuel needs… the pipeline leading from the tanks to the quayside would need to be repaired and recertified.”

Meanwhile, talks aimed at transferring control of the rail line and port to two northern Manitoba groups are ongoing, but hit major hurdles last week.

Sources said a planned press conference was abruptly cancelled, after Ottawa’s negotiator, Wayne Wouters, had almost set up a deal to have Missinippi Rail and One North join forces and execute a business plan overseen by a Saskatchewan-based company and supported by Keewatin Railway Company. Wouters declined an interview request.

Mathias Colomb Cree Nation Chief Arlen Dumas, who is co-leading Missinippi, said there have been difficulties, but everyone’s still at the table.

“I wouldn’t say that the deal’s falling apart,” Dumas said. “We’re still working on it. There’s some aspects of the proposal that people are bringing forward, and we’re discussing.”

Dumas said he was part of the reason the groups delayed a press conference, because he felt there weren’t yet any developments to make public.

“There’s people that have different ambitions,” Dumas said. “Some of them think that if we were able to just come together and sing Kumbaya tomorrow, the federal government’s going to throw a whole bunch of money at us. But that’s actually not the reality.”

Separately, the documents also show Transport Canada was caught off-guard when Dumas signed a deal with Omnitrax for a takeover earlier this year, only learning about the agreement and request for federal cash through a June 5 news article.

Multiple sources said the current talks encountered difficulty around ownership, not repair of the rail line.

On Wednesday, Churchill Mayor Mike Spence put out a statement cryptically saying Omnitrax “has not granted access to the rail line so that repairs can begin. The continued delay in access to the tracks is not acceptable and benefits no one.”

Neither Omnitrax nor Spence would clarify.

Omnitrax Canada head Merv Tweed declined an interview, instead writing that reaching a deal would expedite repairs.

“We have been working with various stakeholders and are providing them with reports and information regarding the assessment of the condition of the rail line,” he wrote.

The documents also reveal some of the difficulty Ottawa faced in the days after the rail line’s May 23 washout.

A memo prepared for a May 31 meeting between federal Energy Minister Jim Carr and Opaskwayak Cree Nation Chief Christian Sinclair, who is co-running the Missinippi Rail bid, noted confusion just a week after the washout.

“The Indigenous communities initially supporting this organization have withdrawn their support to another organization known as One North,” it reads. (The two merged their takeover bids Aug. 28, after pressure from Ottawa.)

Sinclair declined an interview Thursday.

Carr’s spokesman, Alexandre Deslongchamps, said Wouters “continues to meet with implicated parties and attend briefings with officials.” Wouters was appointed Sept. 7, and Deslongchamps said his task is “to ensure the rail line is operational as soon as possible.”

The documents also reveal that “close to 20,000 tourists” used the rail line last year through Via Rail, which announced this week it would remove its stranded, rusting rail cars using the same ship that will supply propane.

The area’s MP, Niki Ashton, said she met with Via Rail to express her concerns about the pullout.

“Via is a key part of the community and its economy, and this is another blow at a time of great instability,” she wrote. “Ultimately, this falls on the federal government. There is a lack of federal leadership.”

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

Transport Canada freedom of information request