It looks as if this fight won’t be over until the ship has sunk and settled on the bottom of the sea.
In a last-ditch effort to stop the sinking of the former warship the Annapolis scheduled for Jan. 17, the Save Halkett Bay Marine Park Society petitioned the Federal Court of Canada Tuesday to issue an injunction preventing the proposed sinking in Howe Sound.
“We don’t understand why the government isn’t forcing the proponents to prove the ship is clean instead of being dragged into court to make it uphold the law,” said Gary MacDonald, who represents the society, in a news release.
The not-for-profit lobby group bases its latest objection to transforming the ship into an artificial reef on the results of testing done on paint chips off of the Annapolis which had tributyltins (TBTs), compounds designed to prevent the growth of marine life, according to the release.
TBTs are banned by order of a United Nations treaty, which includes Canada.
MacDonald accused the federal Minister of the Environment, Leona Aglukkaq, of holding her hands over her ears and ignoring what is happening with the ship.
“The environment minister’s lack of action is enabling the Artificial Reef Society of B.C to break the law,” said MacDonald.
Save Halkett Bay had asked to have a board of review look at the original granting by Environment Canada of the disposal at sea permit, but MacDonald said his group heard from the minister’s office on Thursday and was told that there would not be a review.
“The minister claims that the interventions of the Save Halkett Bay Marine Park Society, prior to and during the permit assessment review, have been taken seriously by Environment Canada and informed the scope of the assessment that was carried out,” MacDonald told the Chief by email.
“She completely ignores the fact that the ship's paint has TBTs and that Canadian law prohibits their disposal. It's not surprising but is discouraging that Canada's environment minister is not erring on the side of caution. What's the harm in waiting and actually finding out what state the ship is in? If a real test by an independent third-party expert determines there are no significant pollutants on or in the ship, the ARSBC will still be able to sink her,” he said.
Members of Save Halkett Bay Marine Park Society have been fighting the sinking of the HMCS Annapolis for six years.
Howie Robins of the Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia declined to comment for this story.
A response on this story from the Minister of the Environment Leona Aglukkaq was not immediately available.
