Frustration builds over ship stranded off Cape Breton
Posted Oct 13, 2011 02:01:16 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Frustration is building for Premier Darrell Dexter who says he’s still awaiting word from the Federal Government about a vessel that’s stranded off Cape Breton.
The MV Miner ran aground on Sept. 20 while being towed from Montreal to Turkey. The ship is still afloat off Scaterie Island and Dexter says the feds aren’t doing anything to remove the ship itself, or the hazardous materials aboard.
Dexter says even with the removal of fuel and oil from the vessel, it still poses a risk to Canadian waters.
“We know that there are batteries onboard that ship, there are transformers with PCBs onboard that ship,” he says. “We know there is something in the order of 6,000 tonnes of asbestos material onboard that ship.”
Dexter says those materials need to be removed immediately. That will be the focus of his discussion when he speaks with Federal Government Officials Thursday afternoon.
“This is the responsibility of the federal government,” he says. “They at least need to engage us on the manner in which it’s going to be dealt with, and that’s not happening.”
If the feds don’t pull through, Dexter says the province may have to foot the bill to have the work done. He tells News 95.7 that isn’t fair to taxpayers, but the province may be left with no other choice.
“We are the innocent victims here,” he says. “We were just unlucky enough to be in the tow path of that vessel. We shouldn’t have to be responsible for this but yet, here we are.”
As far as salvaging the ship goes, Dexter says that may have to wait until the spring because it may be too dangerous to do during the winter.
