Giant Mine team says cleanup won't interrupt lake access

The federal team overseeing the cleanup of Giant Mine has made an offer in an effort to smooth the troubled waters between it and Great Slave Lake boaters.

At a Dec. 10 meeting, the cleanup team told boaters the cleanup will not interrupt access to Great Slave Lake at the old Giant Mine town site. That area is home to a city boat launch and the Great Slave Sailing Club.

The cleanup team initially said both the boat launch and the sailing club would have to be shut down for years to accommodate the cleanup. The boaters, along with the city of Yellowknife and the Yellowknife Historical Society, have applied for compensation for inconvenience and expense associated with the loss of access to the lake.

At the Dec. 10 meeting, the cleanup team unveiled a plan to enhance an existing boat launch and dock at the sailing club. Boats will be launched there while the city boat launch is shut down for cleanup work. The team also said it's willing to modify the sailing club area to allow boats to remain close to where they are currently being stored.

"I personally feel a degree of optimism," said Ian McCrea, a sailboat owner and past commodore of the sailing club. "The plan is evolving, and evolving in a direction to meet the needs of sailors and the sailing club."

McCrea said there are still details to be worked out, including how sailboats are going to be transported a quarter mile to the city boat launch area to be launched by crane. He said 17 of the sailboats do not have trailers.

Boaters are also still hoping to get an unequivocal commitment that the club can continue using the area as it does today following the cleanup.

Citychallenges dismissal of compensation claims

The claims for compensation are being made in the context of applications the cleanup team has made to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board for licences to conduct cleanup work.

The cleanup team dismissed all of the compensation claims made by the boaters, sailors and the city of Yellowknife. The city is claiming millions of dollars for, among other things, the replacement of an aging underground pipe it uses to draw drinking water from the Yellowknife River.

On Dec. 13, the city submitted a 26-page rebuttal of the cleanup team's rejection of its claims. In it, the city challenged one of the arguments the cleanup team used to reject the city's claims that the city will, in fact, benefit from the cleanup so it need not be compensated.

The city said past land and water board compensation decisions have established that just because a project has a net benefit to a region or country does not mean that individuals or organizations in the region or country are disqualified from being compensated for damages.

Though there's no date set for it, the ultimate decision on the claims for compensation will be made by the land and water board.