Two Whitehorse developers are mystified by how the Yukon government has handled or mishandled their desire to bring on a large residential development.

Mike Mickey and Brad Taylor are trying to secure title to the old Whitehorse tank farm to allow for a development of 350-plus residential lots. But they maintain they are being tripped up continuously, and unnecessarily, by an uninformed Yukon government.

In an interview Monday, Mickey explained that he has spent between $2 million and $3 million to buy the 57 hectares of land between Valleyview and Hillcrest and complete the environmental remediation to make it suitable for residential development.

Mickey said he has all the professional reports necessary to show the area is now suitable for development, and has been for years, yet the Yukon government continues to raise concerns.

And every time it raises a concern, the National Energy Board (NEB) has no choice but to go back to Mickey and ask him to address it, Mickey explained.

'We need the Yukon government to quit interfering with the National Energy Board process,' he said.

Mickey said he purchased rights to the land in 1998, and spent a large sum of money in 1999 on the cleanup.

The land falls under the jurisdiction of the NEB because title is still held by Yukon Pipelines Ltd., the company which piped oil up from Skagway and stored it in numerous large tanks at what became known as the tank farm.

Mickey said title cannot be transferred until the NEB is assured there are no outstanding concerns with remediation. The NEB has been provided with all the reports. But it can't close the file unilaterally, Mickey explained.

He said as long as the Yukon government keeps raising issues, even if unwarranted and unsubstantiated, no matter how big or small, as soon as the government makes a peep, the NEB has no choice but to have Mickey address the matter.

But it's getting rather expensive, a frustrated Mickey explained yesterday, suggesting he has addressed all the issues, again and again.

And just last December, after Mickey and his professional engineering firms thought they had finally satisfied the Yukon government, the government fired off another concern to the NEB.

Correspondence from the NEB shows it too is growing tired and more confused with the actions of the Yukon government.

Mickey said his environmental assessment work and the accompanying reports were done by Golder and Associates, one of the top environmental assessment companies in the world.

The local office of the national firm, EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd., has been extensively involved, Mickey pointed out.

He said there have been environmental engineers and hydrologists involved.

'There's been at least 12 people from four or five different firms in Canada that have all put their signatures on their letterheads by saying it is their belief and opinion that the property can easily be developed into residential,' Mickey said.

In an April letter to the NEB, Mike Hamilton of and Golder and Associates, on behalf of Yukon Pipelines Ltd., criticizes the Yukon government for its December correspondence and suggestion that Mickey has taken a 'do-nothing strategy.'

'Golder, on behalf of YPL (Yukon Pipelines), has spent over 5,080 professional hours and $436,360 on direct disbursements monitoring the abandonment work and characterizing of soil vapour, soil and groundwater conditions at the site,' writes Hamilton, a professional geologist and project manager for Golder.

'In addition to this work, EBA has likely incurred a similar amount of professional time and direct disbursements monitoring the site remediation work and groundwater quality for YPL on behalf of the prospective purchaser.

'In addition to these costs, considerable demolition and remediation contractor costs were incurred by YPL and the prospective purchaser.

'YPL has indicated to us that they are deeply concerned that the considerable effort and dollars spent to date to implement the restoration work completed at the site would be construed by (the Yukon government) as a do-nothing strategy.'

Mickey pointed out the NEB has again called upon all interveners to make final submissions by June 29.

'As long as the Yukon government keeps showing up with concerns, all the NEB can do is throw them back in my lap to address.'

Mickey said if the Yukon allows the title to transfer, the development project will still have to go through the YESAA process. There's still the opportunity for the Yukon government, and the city, to require development conditions, he said.

But Mickey points out any conditions imposed, would have to adhere to normal standards, which would be no problem, as there is no problem.

Taylor, who is set to purchase the land from Mickey and develop it, said the City of Whitehorse has been chomping at the bit for years to see this approved because of the land shortage, as have several other government and non-government agencies.

The project proposal has already attracted scores of potential buyers, he points out.

Mickey said in a city where there's not a single urban lot available to buy, one would think the government would do whatever it could to help the project go ahead, not the opposite.

Premier Dennis Fentie, who doubles as the minister of Environment, and its department that's leading the review of the tank farm proposal, did not return a request for an interview on the subject this morning.

Nor did Archie Lang, minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, the department responsible for land development.

In the legislature Monday, Lang defended the government's resistance to the proposal under questioning from Liberal MLA Gary McRobb, who accused Lang of refusing to work with Mickey and Taylor, and the NEB.

Lang countered that he has an open door policy, and has worked with both the developers and the NEB on the matter. The tank farm, said Lang, is the responsibility of the NEB.

'We have worked with the National Energy Board, and we have worked with them to address the issues that the National Energy Board has,' Lang told the legislature.

'They have issues on the environmental question on the land, and we look forward to that being resolved. But environmental questions will not be resolved overnight, especially when you're working with the National Energy Board. They are very, very thorough in their investigation, and so they should be.'

Mickey said the NEB does not have problems, and is only forced to keep the merry-go-round spinning with the unfounded concerns of the government.

The government, he insisted, doesn't have one shred of scientific research to back up its assertions.

It's got lots of 'opinions' but nothing that remotely compares to the onsite studies and professional conclusions he and Yukon Pipelines have paid for, Mickey said.

He and Taylor remain mystified about the government's resistance, year after year.

If it's not one frivolous concern, it's another, year in and year out, they agree.

As early as 2001, government officials were indicating to the NEB they felt they had raised their concerns, and would no longer be commenting, Taylor pointed out.

Suddenly, out of the blue, Taylor adds, the government is raising more issues with the NEB, the latest volley going out in the mail last Dec. 19, the letter suggesting Mickey's 'do-nothing strategy.'

Mickey said he suspects the government is caught between a rock and a hard place now, in that if it withdraws its objection, it'll have to explain why it didn't do that several years ago.

Taylor, the city's first private land developer who developed Pineridge phases one and two, suspects the government is afraid of competition, knowing it can't produce a private urban lot for the price he can.

Why else, they wonder.