After 3 months without a delivery, Change Islands is out of gas and looking for answers
Gas tanks in Change Islands, a small Newfoundland outport, have been dry since mid-December. (Ted Dillon/CBC)
The Newfoundland outport of Change Islands has been without gas for nearly three weeks, with no answers from the only gas station's supplier or solutions heading into the new year.
Alva Diamond, co-owner of D&E Variety, operates the lone gas station on Change Islands, which has about 140 full-time residents during the winter. Her last delivery from Ultramar — which had been doing deliveries for 20 years but informed her their deliveries would be changing — was on Sept. 28.
"The only thing they're delivering is home heating [fuel], and that hasn't been consistent," Diamond told CBC Radio Tuesday.
"It was ... somewhere around two months before they came with the home heating fuel. A lot of people were running low."
Diamond said she's had many conversations with her supplier, Ultramar Parkland Fuels, but hasn't been able to get answers on why gas is no longer being delivered.
CBC News has asked Ultramar Parkland Fuels for an interview, but hasn't received comment as of Wednesday. CBC also contacted the office of Derrick Bragg, the area's MHA, for comment, which was forwarded on to a government department.
Diamond said the lack of answers is cause for concern, especially as the colder months arrive. Gas is also especially important in the spring for a region dependent on the fishery, she said.
"There's nowhere on the island to get gas, so they would have to bring it in," she said.
"People are becoming very concerned, especially [because] I know we had a power outage there a little while ago. And a lot of people didn't have gas for their generators. So they could be in the cold or without heat or light."
Diamond says a lack of gas in Change Islands could bring long-term consequences, like impacts to the area's fishery in the spring and the short-term concerns of a cold winter. (Submitted by Walter Gill)
Chance Islands Mayor Paula Flood has also been looking for answers to no real success. She said some residents have resorted to travelling off the island by ferry to get the fuel they need, but Transport Canada rules limit the amount that people can travel with.
She's most concerned about how the lack of fuel will impact the town's emergency medical services.
"We have a patient transport unit that we transfer residents off the island…. If there's a power outage, we need gas for our generator," Flood said.
"The biggest concern right now is the response vehicle, because we cannot take it off the island to gas it up and bring it back. That unit has to stay on the island in case of an emergency."
Flood said the town's medical vehicle has about half a tank of fuel left as of Tuesday, but she isn't sure how long that will last.
She said she'll continue to lobby for deliveries to resume.
"If they're going to continue the other service, they [should] continue both of it," she said. "Gasoline is an essential service."
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