Last weekend most of Squamish's attention was on the 50th anniversary of Squamish Days, with events and parties running all weekend long to celebrate the historic occasion.
But for John Buchanan and Meg Fellowes, Saturday (Aug. 4) was a time to commemorate a different anniversary -- that of the Westwood-Anette oil spill.
"I didn't want this day to pass unnoticed," said Buchanan, who spent the day, along with Fellowes, outside Gelato Carina on Cleveland Avenue.
The pair talked to passersby, many of them on their way to Kids Sports, about what occurred when the ship ran into a piling at Squamish Terminals and spilled heavy diesel into the water. The duo also said that much still needs to take place in order for the Squamish Estuary to recover from the incident.
"There's still a ways to go in the recovery," said Fellowes.
With all the other activities happening on the weekend, Buchanan said it was even more important to draw attention to the issue."I know that everybody is in a good mood with Squamish Days, and that this is a little more somber, and not so happy," he said. "But there is still work to be done on the cleanup and we can't just sit on our hands."
The pair displayed a poster board full of images both of the spill itself as well as the aftermath.
Buchanan had a jar of sludge that he had collected from the scene.
"You go out there and you can still see it," said Buchanan. "There is still oil and its mixed into the soil and everything out there."The cleanup has barely scratched the surface. It seems to me as if they are just going to let it sit there and let nature deal with it and maybe no one will notice."
GearBulk, the owners of the Westwood-Anette, are responsible for clean-up of the site. The last major restoration project paid for by the company was in May, when a 20 ft. by 10 ft. section of the beach was removed. However, Buchanan called that operation insufficient.
"Below the point that they dug to you could see that the sludge had settled there.
"If they're going to do these types of operations than they should do it right, or they shouldn't do it at all."
