Infrastructure & Environment

5 Wing Goose Bay, constructed in the 1940’s by Canada and the United States Air Force, was used for staging aircraft en-route to Britain during the Cold War.

At the peak of operations in the 1950’s and 1960’s, over 300-million litres of various fuels brought by ship were stored in tank farms on the Wing, connected by 160 km of pipelines.

In 1987, 5 Wing Goose Bay became a Canadian Forces Base and, to this day, sustains multinational flying operations.

Due to the remote location of the Wing and the fact that environmental standards were different than those considered acceptable today, most of the materials generated through the Wing’s daily operations were disposed of on the property until about the 1990s.

The majority of environmental contamination at the Wing can be attributed to past storage and handling practices of fuel and other contaminants. Photo courtesy of Weldon Roberts, 1965.

HAPPEY-VALLEY GOOSE BAY, Nfld & Lab. The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway, announced $300 million in funding for the 5 Wing Goose Bay Remediation Project.

This funding demonstrates the government’s commitment to environmental clean-up, and to generating economic opportunities for the local economy.

From left to right: Craig Wells, Acting Goose Bay Remediation Project Manager, Minister MacKay, Lieutenant-Colonel Brian Bowerman, Wing Commander 5 Wing Goose Bay.

DND has been managing suspected and confirmed contaminated areas at 5 Wing through the Goose Bay Remediation Project in order to reduce or to eliminate the potential risks posed by the contamination.

Over 100 individual contaminated sites (grouped into 10 larger sub-projects) of various sizes have been identified across the Wing.

Some of the major sites include the North Escarpment, Upper Tank Farm, Lower Tank Farm, Survival Tank Farm, Former Hydrant Area, Main Gate/Hamilton River Road Site and the South Escarpment Stillwaters and Dump Sites.

Fuel contamination was found below the ground at the Main Gate site which serves as the main entrance to the Wing. It is suspected that a leaking valve connected to the underground pipeline system was the source of the contamination.

The project uses Multi-Phase Vapour Extraction, commonly known as bioslurping technology, to recover fuel from the subsurface.

This vacuum pump pulls fuel from 50ft below the surface through extraction wells, similar to drinking from a glass of water through a straw. The system has proven very effective at removing fuel over 150,000 litres of fuel have been recovered to date.

The Upper Tank Farm, constructed between 1951-1967, was comprised of five aboveground bulk fuel storage tanks (similar to the one depicted) with a combined storage capacity of 57 million litres of fuel.

The Upper Tank Farm site has been undergoing clean-up since the 1990s when approximately 5 million litres of underground fuel contamination was identified.

It is believed that the contamination is a result of historical leaks from underground pipeline or 1960s/1970s maintenance practices.

The remediation strategy used at the site has been effective in removing the fuel approximately 4 million litres have been recovered to date.

The Stillwaters at the South Escarpment were at risk for continued contamination as underground fuel and other contaminants moved down the Escarpment from the Upper Tank Farm.

A trench was constructed forming a 750-meter protective barrier that consists of pipeline covered with large sandbags, which stops the underground contamination before it has a chance to enter the Stillwaters.

Essentially, the water is filtered through the pipeline and the hydrocarbon contaminants remain trapped.

Results to date demonstrate that the trench is successfully minimizing the amount of fuel and other contaminants from entering the Stillwaters.

Not only will the Goose Bay Remediation Project lead to a cleaner environment, but it will also deliver important economic benefits to the region’s economy now and in future years as the project gets fully underway.

For example, as part of the $300 million in funding, a $4.5-million contract was recently awarded to AMEC, an environmental service firm with a local office in Happy-Valley Goose Bay that employs four full-time project staff who will provide consulting services to DND. The project is anticipated to be completed by 2020.