The fact that the Coast Guard and Environment Canada are at odds over what should be done to recover and remove the remaining 5,000 or so litres of bunker fuel oil from estuary vegetation is more than frustrating.
The Coast Guard refuses to force Gearbulk, the owners of the , to cut contaminated vegetation to get at the oil caught underneath. And they say they are following advice from Environment Canada.
That's news to the latter, apparently. A spokesperson for Environment Canada is denying the Coast Guard's assertion that its scientists are opposed to this particular cleanup approach.
So where does that leave Squamish and its environment, and when, for goodness sake, are we going to know if the sludge is going to be taken away in its entirety? Or even at all? What, to these people, is considered to be an acceptable amount of contamination? However long the arguments go on, the toxic oil is still out there. Cut grasses recover. Trampling can be kept to a minimum.
Will our children and dogs for years to come be covered in it every time they go exploring in the "wrong" part of the Estuary? That's not to forget the continued contamination of local wildlife and the seeming inevitability of it ending up in the food chain.
What is the point of rehabilitating a few geese when one sixth of the oil spilled remains out there? It seems like mere window dressing.
The cannons which are supposed to scare the birds away are still going off. Are downtown residents meant to get used to that for the foreseeable future? One can't see the well-heeled future residents of the proposed Oceanfront Development taking kindly to having an oil slick as a long-term neighbour, however buried it is in the grass. Why should residents accept it now?
Certainly, the District is unhappy with this current disagreement between the two federal agencies, and the fact that the Coast Guard looks determined to allow Gearbulk to get away without paying for the full cleanup.
This is exactly the sort of reason that residents of Squamish vote for local politicians in the first place. It is time they look into their options for holding Gearbulk responsible.
This must not be allowed to drop off the agenda.
