Residents of a Vancouver Island community are celebrating an order by the province telling a shipbreaking company to take action to stop polluting their local water.
On the shore of the Salish Sea south of Courtenay, the sight of beached ships is unmistakable.
Deepwater Recovery’s four-year-old operation here has rankled neighbours and the regional district
This week they marked what would appear to be a win for locals.
The Ministry of Environment has issued a pollution abatement order, directing the company to immediately stop the release of the elements copper, lead and zinc above approved levels.
“The good news is it shows that what we’ve been saying over the last number of years,” said Ray Rewcastle, president of the Concerned Citizens of Baynes Sound.
“That this operation has been polluting with heavy metals into Baynes Sound.”
Shipbreaking is a necessary part of the global economy.
But it is also considered a hazardous industry, as many ships contain asbestos and a long list of other potential contaminants.
The Baynes Sound group says the area is simply the wrong place to do this kind of work, and they question the way Deepwater Recovery was able to set up shop here.
There are international rules about moving ships into different countries for shipbreaking. The Baynes Sound activists say they believe the two ships currently on the beach are of American origin.
If that’s true, it raises questions about whether they had official authorization.
Global News reached out to Transport Canada for information and was told there was no law requiring people to declare that ships like these are being brought into the country for shipbreaking.
Deepwater Recovery co-owner Mark Jurisich told Global News Friday that that the pollution in question was not related to his business, and is actually coming from nearby coal deposits and historic mines in the area.
He also said the company prefers not to be labelled as a shipbreaking operation but is instead a “vessel repair facility.”