Contrary to what some North Bay residents think what they saw, there was no attempt to cover-up the discovery of an underground storage tank at the site of the new hotel being built in the city. Crews found the tank on Saturday and were surprised by the discovery. Paul Goodridge, a surveyor and land use planner of Goodridge and Goulet Planning and Surveying, told Moose News on Tuesday the tank is very old and contained some diesel fuel and water.
Sludge had also accumulated at the bottom over the decades. Goodridge was authorized to speak on behalf of Vrancor Hotels, the Hamilton-based company having the hotel built. Goodridge said the tank had to be removed however management first had to find someone to carry out that operation. But Goodridge adds in the meantime there was no way the storage tank could be left exposed and for a very good reason.
He says time has made the tank walls almost paper thin and if anything had hit them, the contents would have spilled forcing a clean-up. So the decision was made to protect it by covering it with clean sand until someone can remove it. He says for people watching this operation, it might appear there was a cover-up going on, but he emphasizes this is not the case.  Goodridge says the tank was covered over to protect it from any potential ruptures.
Management will next hire a company to pump out the diesel and water and also remove the sludge before the tank itself is lifted from the ground. The Ministry of the Environment is aware of the discovery and Goodridge says he’s waiting to hear back if there’s anything else crews have to do. Goodridge also stresses that despite the fact there was diesel in the tank, there is no public danger.