Deep Water Recovery, the company taking apart derelict vessels in Union Bay, has been hit with a pollution abatement order from the province.
“I am satisfied with reasonable grounds that a substance is causing pollution on or about lands occupied by Deep Water Recovery Ltd,” wrote Jennifer Mayberry, director of operations and compliance for the Environment Ministry of Environment. These jurisdictions have all been involved with policing Deep Water Recovery’s activities and responding to community members’ concerns since the company transformed the site from a log sort to a ship-recycling facility about four years ago. And they’ve occasionally pointed fingers at each other for not doing enough.
But the federal government also has responsibilities with respect to the operations, and “we remain very concerned that Canada is not actively regulating and communicating your regulatory actions in the marine environment.” However, documents obtained through a freedom of information request indicate that Fisheries and Oceans Canada has taken some enforcement action at the site.
The Comox Valley Regional District has taken the position that Deep Water Recovery’s ship-breaking activities on land are not compliant with its land-use bylaws. It has asked the Supreme Court of B.C. to force the company to stop dismantling ships at the site. Deep Water Recovery opposes the claim, and the matter is ongoing.
During its auction sale, the services administration confirmed the presence of asbestos in the Miller Freeman, in “pipe insulation, exhaust breech insulation, 9 X 9 floor tile, wallboard on the main deck and higher in the wallboard in the walk-in cooler.”