Managing fuel. Managing risks.

The helicat industry relies on remote locations, land tenures, winter climates and pristine environments to provide mountain experiences to their guests. Currently, an integral part of these operations is the use of fossil fuels to provide the energy needed to transport guests to the operations up in the mountains and to support accommodation services in the backcountry. Technology is promising future developments to allow increased use of alternative fuels, but currently the use of fossil fuels is ubiquitous within the helicat industry.  If not managed properly, these fuels can endanger the environment.

The vision.

The vision for fuel storage and handling is to provide guidance for helicat operations to develop maintenance and operating procedures that prevent spillage of fossil fuels, and a spill response plan.  This document strives to highlight operational areas where the potential for environmental contamination exists and where there are opportunities to conserve fuel.

Reducing our impact.

Petroleum products are composed of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and can contaminate soil and drinking water supplies. Even a small spill can have a serious impact; a single pint of oil released into water can cover one acre of water surface area and seriously damage an aquatic habitat. A spill of just one gallon of oil can contaminate one million gallons of water.

The presence of fuel also increases the risk of starting a wildfire in these sensitive environments.  Forest fires have serious environmental consequences such as loss of wildlife and vegetation, destruction of habitat, air pollution, and changing the terrain through loss of forests.  Wildfire can directly threaten an operation’s infrastructure and also change skiing terrain and avalanche management considerations through loss of trees and vegetation.

Fortunately, there are very prescriptive regulations and standards in place to guide operations in the storage and handling of fuels and the response expected when dealing with fuel spills, which mitigate the risk to the environment.  By following these and recommended best practice, the industry can aim towards safeguarding the environment when storing and handling fuel.

An additional aspect of sustainability and fuel management is consciously looking for ways to reduce consumption.  Planning, implementation, monitoring progress and evaluation are all important steps in understanding what impact a change has on the system.  This topic is addressed in detail in the Energy Use & Climate Change Focus Area.