Yukon Liberal Leader Sandy Silver slammed the government over its response to a recent highway rollover by an LNG truck, while Premier Darrell Pasloski fired back that the Klondike MLA was casting public employees in an unfair light.

A tanker was turning into the AFD Petroleum pumps along the Klondike Highway in Dawson City on Tuesday evening when the trailer — containing 55,000 litres of liquified natural gas — rolled over.

None of its contents leaked.

“(T)he Government of Yukon response to this incident has been oddly slow,” Silver said in a release last Friday.

“This is a serious situation that has closed the main highway through the Klondike for a day. But it could have been a lot worse.”

Silver alluded to remarks made by Pasloski last month at a Colorado mining conference where he said “we have put in place the legislation and the regulations to be able to have an LNG industry within the Yukon.”

“I am very curious to know how the LNG legislation referenced by the premier in Denver applies to this situation,” Silver said.

“I’m calling on the premier to explain what rules are in place to address this type of incident and whether they are adequate given the coming expansion of LNG-related traffic through the Yukon.”

Pasloski interpreted Silver’s statement as a slight against government employees, rather than the government itself.

“It’s disappointing that Mr. Silver would suggest that Dawson-based Yukon government employees were slow in responding to the recent LNG tanker truck roll-over,” he said.

A cabinet release last Friday described the MLA’s remarks as “inaccurate” and “disparaging.”

The premier noted the Dawson City fire department and RCMP were the lead responders in the emergency situation on Sept. 30.

“(A)nd Yukon government Highways and Public Works staff supported these trained first responders once the site was secured by installing signage and updating 511 for Yukoners,” Pasloski said.

Silver commended Mayor Wayne Potoroka and Fire Chief Jim Regimbal for their quick response and “communication with the public.”

The premier thanked employees of the Yukon and Dawson governments for their “quick and professional response.”

Workers righted the tipped-over tanker using a crane and straps Friday afternoon. An expert investigator determined the LNG inside the trailer did not need to be transferred beforehand because the tanker was pressurized, Regimbal said.

“There’s more product coming through the territory, so there’s going to be more of these than less,” he said in an interview today.

“I think we need to work toward mitigating this kind of thing. Obviously there was some human error. That entrance and exit has to be redesigned as well,” he added, referring to the AFD Petroleum pumps.

Regimbal said several incidents have occurred there since the entrance was redesigned within the past year, possibly because it is too narrow.

An official with Ventures West Transport LP, the company responsible for shipping the LNG load to Inuvik, N.W.T., told the Star last week a “soft shoulder ... gave way and our tanker slid down into the ditch.”

Regimbal suggested the municipal and territorial governments work together to create a drop-off point where trucks — particularly with “dangerous goods” — en route to Inuvik can disconnect their trailers before entering town to reduce the risk of hazardous incidents.