Black Tickle to run on fumes after gas station to close

Life in the isolated coastal Labrador community of Black Tickle is about to get more difficult, with the only retail gas station in the settlement set to close in November.

The station is owned by the Woodward Group of Companies, which says it's been losing money on the business for years.

It's a big blow, said Joe Keefe, a member of the Black Tickle Local Service District and one of 135 residents of the community.

He explained that a shortage of gasoline could also impact peoples' ability to obtain safe and clean drinking water.

"Everybody in Black Tickle got to use gas to get water. We don't have no running water in Black Tickle, you have to get on your Ski-doo with your komatik and your bucket and go and pick it up," he said.

"Then if you're burning wood, you need the gas to get to the bay to pick that up. Gas is everything."

Keefe said the community has reached out to federal and provincial politicians for help, but he doubts there's time to get a different gas supply organized before winter sets in.

Roy Osmond, vice-president of finance with the Woodward Group, said the station doesn't sell enough gas to be viable.

"We got tanks to maintain, we got an employee or employees, and you got the cost of operating, you got insurance, you got environmental coverages," said Osmond.

Osmond said Woodwards will continue to supply gas for clients such as the school, the clinic and Hydro.

He added that the company will offer whatever assistance it can so the people of Black Tickle can find another source of gasoline.

Woodwards has operated a station in Black Tickle for more than three decades, and Osmond said the Woodward family has been very patient. However, the retail operation was no longer economical, having lost more than $100,000 "over a number of years."

He said a service station in a place like St. John's can sell some three-million litres of fuel while the station in Black Tickle was selling roughly 150,000 litres annually.

"That's a very small volume," he said.

Osmond said the company could easily deliver gasoline to the community if someone else decided to operate the service.

"That's not an issue," he said.