Rigolet gas station reopens with reduced hours, still no long-term plan

People were lined up for gas in Rigolet on Friday after six weeks without an operating gas station.

The only station in the coastal Labrador community closed on May 31, leaving residents to stockpile fuel and ration it for an undetermined amount of time.

The business has since been taken over by the Nunatsiavut Group of Companies and will operate three days a week with reduced hours.

"We managed to have the fuel tanks filled up so there's plenty of fuel for the summer," said NGC vice-president Sarah Leo.

NGC works on a for-profit basis, but is an arm of the Nunatsiavut government.

Leo said that means it has an obligation to the people of its communities, including Rigolet.

"We felt almost a responsibility to help out the residents and see what we could do to operate the gas station."

Leo said it will be a learning curve, since NGC has no experience running a gas station. One employee of the gas station has returned to work to help the transition.

There's an agreement in place to keep the gas station open until the fall, but what happens beyond that remains unknown.

A request for proposals is expected to be issued later this month or in early August with the goal of finding a local entrepreneur or business to take over the station's operations. There's an option for NGC to continue running the station, but Leo said members will examine the numbers as the summer ticks by to determine if they want to continue operating it into the winter.

If the decision is made to walk away from it, Leo said, they'll make sure people aren't left in the lurch again.

"We want to ensure that we're still there or somebody is there … to accept the winter fuel delivery in the community."

The gas station will be open each Monday and Wednesday afternoon, as well as Friday morning and afternoon.

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