Diesel issues halt machines throughout Haines

Isaiah Smardo fuels up his truck on Main Street before boarding the ferry from Juneau, mid relocation from Fairbanks with his family. Jan. 9, 2026. (Will Steinfeld/Chilkat Valley News).

By Will Steinfeld

Chilkat Valley News

Widespread fuel-gelling in the Chilkat Valley’s supply of diesel halted trucks, plows and a highway-project crew in December.  

Many say the problem — a process where diesel fuel solidifies at low temperatures, clogging fuel lines and filters — could have been avoided with a different fuel mix. 

The issues began as early December temperatures bottomed out into a multi-week cold snap. 

On the Haines Highway, contractor Paul Swalling, who was working on the state’s road rebuild, said his equipment began to sputter; first, one truck that he said was notoriously susceptible to fuel gelling. 

Then equipment issues spread.  

“Once we saw the first truck and started having other equipment with signs of gelling, we went and checked our (fuel) storage tank we have out there, which usually has 3- to 4,000 gallons, and it had started gelling,” Swalling said. “For a quantity of that size to start gelling, it was pretty apparent that something wasn’t quite right.”

Swalling said he immediately reported the problem to Delta Western, but neither warmer temperatures nor new fuel looked likely before his planned date to end work Dec. 15. Without equipment to run, Swalling’s team stopped work Dec. 11, which he described as a significant financial hit. 

“It basically brought our operation to a halt,” Swalling said. “I haven’t gone back to see the cost component of that, and I’m not sure I want to look at it to be honest with you.”

When Swalling saw the first signs of gelling the first week of December, temperatures in town had dropped into the single digits. 

Diesel engines do function in colder conditions than that, even without heated storage for equipment. That’s made possible by using diesel variants with less efficient energy output, but greater resistance to low temperatures. 

Former Delta Western area manager Fred Gray and Delta Western service station cashier Stan Mazeikas said the fuel coming out of pumps last month and gelling up was the warmer-weather diesel — “summer diesel instead of winter diesel,” as Gray described it. 

Swalling said the same: “In normal operating, winter-treated diesel, zero degrees doesn’t affect it at all.” Instead, Swalling said, assuming he was supplied winter diesel, he would’ve expected gelling at 25 or 30 degrees below zero. But Haines temperatures never approached that.

Delta Western is the Chilkat Valley’s lone fuel provider, and is owned by Seattle-based NorthStar Energy.

In an email last Friday, NorthStar vice president of marketing and communications Thien-Di Do acknowledged the problem, but downplayed its impact.  

“A very limited number of our customers had equipment affected by gelling, which can occur in extreme conditions,” Do wrote. “Our team was notified and immediately responded to the situation, working with the customers to resolve the issue.”

Some residents, however, paint a different picture of how widespread the problem was. 

“Everybody I knew that had a piece of equipment that stays outside, which is 99% of them, was all gelled up,” said upper valley resident Jim Stanford. 

Stanford said his two pieces of snow-clearing equipment were out of commission for about 10 days in the second half of December. He heated them up and cleared fuel lines, but ultimately, he said, the machines only started running properly once the temperatures climbed. During that time, Stanford estimates he missed out on clearing snow for five to seven households. 

Sales numbers at Parts Place also suggest the gelling was a widely-experienced issue.

The store began December with a significant stock of additives meant to reliquify diesel and prevent gelling: around 200 bottles of HEET fuel additive, each bottle treating 100 gallons of fuel, and several cases of 911 fuel additive.

But in the middle of the month, customers began buying up the additives, and within a week the store was completely sold out, said employee Sadie Dixon. 

The problem seems to have persisted for weeks. 

Upper valley resident Kimberly Rosado said she purchased diesel in town the day after Christmas. 

“I had heard about (the gelling) in early December, so I thought after weeks that surely it would be fixed,” Rosado said. “But I pulled it out, and it was gelled right out of the container.”

The service station is now pumping winter diesel, Mazeikas said Tuesday. He estimated the switch from summer to winter fuel was made three weeks ago, which he said was standard timing. 

But NorthStar has not confirmed its standard procedures and has only attributed the problem to the cold temperatures. 

Do did not respond to questions about what fuel mix was supplied to Haines last month, and whether the company normally switches between a summer and winter mix. 

Gray and Mazeikas said the decisions about what fuel mix is shipped come from the Seattle company. But Mazeikas said laying blame at the feet of the company wasn’t right. 

“Some people had issues, but it’s because they weren’t prepared,” Mazeikas said. “We haven’t had a winter this cold in years.”

Swalling did emphasize that the local Delta Western office tried to help. 

After he reported the gelling, Swalling said Delta Western offered him a small amount of fuel additive and low-gel-point diesel fuel, but it wasn’t enough for him to get operations running again. 

“They did their best efforts on their side,” Swalling said.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.