Does anyone know what happened to the Oak Lake Gas station? It closed last week without any notice. Does anyone know if they plan on opening it up again?

closed due to gov't regulations. They had to put in above ground tanks for environmental purposes and it was gonna cost too much. Sad because we needed it in town. Typical of small town rural Canada though. We're losing out daily to urban ideology which doesn't give a rats a$$ about rural communities.

Gumby said "closed due to gov't regulations. They had to put in above ground tanks for environmental purposes and it was gonna cost too much. Sad because we needed it in town. Typical of small town rural Canada though. We're losing out daily to urban ideology which doesn't give a rats a$$ about rural communities. "

People blame the government for not putting in regulations to prevent ground pollution for leaking underground gas tanks. Then when they do, people complain that these new rules cause gas stations to close down.  
 
We can't have it both ways.  
 
Gumby: How would remedy the problem? Just let the underground tanks leak, or have them fix the pollution problem the proper way?

razor said "    Gumby said "closed due to gov't regulations. They had to put in above ground tanks for environmental purposes and it was gonna cost too much. Sad because we needed it in town. Typical of small town rural Canada though. We're losing out daily to urban ideology which doesn't give a rats a$$ about rural communities. " People blame the government for not putting in regulations to prevent ground pollution for leaking underground gas tanks. Then when they do, people complain that these new rules cause gas stations to close down.     We can't have it both ways.     Gumby: How would remedy the problem? Just let the underground tanks leak, or have them fix the pollution problem the proper way? "

If only there was a like function like there is on facebook!  
It's been a while since i've heard someone think logically, Its not always the government's fault, they are doing the right thing here, save our environment!!!

razor said "    Gumby said "closed due to gov't regulations. They had to put in above ground tanks for environmental purposes and it was gonna cost too much. Sad because we needed it in town. Typical of small town rural Canada though. We're losing out daily to urban ideology which doesn't give a rats a$$ about rural communities. " People blame the government for not putting in regulations to prevent ground pollution for leaking underground gas tanks. Then when they do, people complain that these new rules cause gas stations to close down.     We can't have it both ways.     Gumby: How would remedy the problem? Just let the underground tanks leak, or have them fix the pollution problem the proper way? "

We were gone a few days last week and just gothome late last night...but now that I recall it should have been open when we got home....  
 
Does anyone evn know if the tanks actually leaked or are you just tossing out mis-information Razor? WE NEED gas in this town as it's a massive pain to go to Virden for gas, and Brandon is far enough you have to plan what your doing rather then an hour of driving to fill the lawn mower or boat.  
 
I say sometimes it is gov't BS when all they go on is the age of the tanks rather then accuracy...I mean they got it going a year ago, someone must have inspected things then?  
 
Too bad, really hoped they would thrive and I tried to support them a lot and I buy a PILE of gas.

I was really disappointed as well when I seen it closed. I was hoping that it was just a temporary closure. Its going to be a bit of a hassle to drive to either Virden or Brandon for gas. Especially for those that don't work out of town.

passing on what the owner said happened. The environmental rules shut him down. Sure I don't think the tanks should leak and contaminate ground water but like Mr.4MULA said "I say sometimes it is gov't BS when all they go on is the age of the tanks rather then accuracy...I mean they got it going a year ago, someone must have inspected things then?".  
 
If it is unsafe now how come they let it start up last year??? It shouldnt have passed inspections then.  
 
I'd remedy the problem by giving the owner some time and possibly a grant to help pay for the cost of switching over. He obviously can't dig things up in the middle of winter so let him go until spring and then get him started. Small town gas stations are not huge money makers by any means. A grant to help pay for the double walled above ground tanks would probably be in order. I know someone's gonna say the gov't shouldn't help to pay for tanks but why then should they pay huge amounts towards other infrastructure like the Keystone Center for instance. I already know what is gonna be said about this too...The keystone Center is public but the gas station isn't. Yeah but the gas station in a asmall town is just as important to that small town as the huge arena complex is to Brandon. But then again big cities are more importanat than small towns any day....(sarcasm....)

This is really unfortunate, I happened to be going through Oak Lake for a hockey game not long ago, on my way home from Brandon & realized about 5 miles out of Brandon that I would not have enough gas to make it home. What a relief when I got to Oak Lake & found a gas station (which I was skeptical on finding at all)that was still open in the evening. I even thought to myself how lucky the town was to have that business that seemed to serve many purposes, not just filling your tank. Sorry to see another small town business get shut down, & sorry to the community of Oak Lake for losing it.

Seems like a funny "all of a sudden" time for the inspection or rules to shut down now.....wonder if some busy body started nosing around or Virden lost sales...or something to start the witch hunt.....either way...now we go back to nowehere to buy anything after 6:00, no movies, and no GOOD pizza at night...I was so amazed they could make such a great pizza....hate to say but it was way better then the DD

Mr.4MULA said "Seems like a funny "all of a sudden" time for the inspection or rules to shut down now.....wonder if some busy body started nosing around or Virden lost sales...or something to start the witch hunt.....either way...now we go back to nowehere to buy anything after 6:00, no movies, and no GOOD pizza at night...I was so amazed they could make such a great pizza....hate to say but it was way better then the DD "

I would hope the inspections are at least an annual thing and not done once and then forgot about.

Roger said "    Mr.4MULA said "Seems like a funny "all of a sudden" time for the inspection or rules to shut down now.....wonder if some busy body started nosing around or Virden lost sales...or something to start the witch hunt.....either way...now we go back to nowehere to buy anything after 6:00, no movies, and no GOOD pizza at night...I was so amazed they could make such a great pizza....hate to say but it was way better then the DD " I would hope the inspections are at least an annual thing and not done once and then forgot about. "

I would hope that we don't have some jerk off causing issues for a small town businessman and causing people to lose jobs and to take another shot at shutting down a small town to new commers.  
 
I never said there shouldn't be inspections, but seems fishy there was no time to work with things, just up and going and then shut down.

The contract could have been up with the supplier. This would perhaps force the gas station to upgrade to new above ground tanks....

Rix said "The contract could have been up with the supplier. This would perhaps force the gas station to upgrade to new above ground tanks.... "

can't see Co-Op shooting themselves in the foot like that....or Tempo "brand"...hardly any left in this province....I think above ground tanks are a joke....just asking for things to be messed with.

When Darren bought the gas station last year he knew the "life" of the tanks. The cost of an upgrade is $40 000 and other incidental costs add about another $10 000. A card lock system should then be installed so wages would not have to be paid for someone to watch the pump. The price could then be kept closer to that of Virden or Brandon. Under previous management I bought ALL of my fuel there. A lot of us drive to another community to work and buy our gas there.  
 
In a small community the successful business man knows there is no future if he "browns off" his customers.