Ottawa moving on plans to clean up Goose Bay

The federal defence minister was in central Labrador Friday afternoon to re-announce spending to clean up the Goose Bay air base.

Back in 2009, Peter MacKay was in Happy Valley-Goose Bay to announce $300 million for remediation of contaminated areas around the base.

Since then work began on some areas where millions of litres of fuel leaked into the ground.

Now Mackay has returned with more details about how the hundreds of millions he announced before will be spent.

"The remediation of the survival tank farm with a value of $15 million, the remediation of the former hydrant area with a value of $25 million and the remediation of the dome mountain, a further $22 million," he said.

The federal government is promising the work will create more than 300 jobs over the next five years.

Base's future unknown

What is still unclear is what the military plans to do with the base in the future.

In September 2011, the total number of service men and women on the base is 75. For more than five years the government has promised hundreds more will be stationed at it.

In 2009, Mackay said the Afghanistan mission pushed Goose Bay to the side.

Now it seems other things are in the way.

"It's a very busy time of high-tempo of operations. It's a summer that's seen floods and fires, we've seen a number of very important international gatherings, including Olympic games and G20 and G8 gatherings over the last number of years," he said.

Despite that, Mackay hinted that his return to Happy Valley-Goose bay is in the works.

"I hope to be back here very soon with some good news for the base," he said.