Thursday, August 1, 2013

A Watson Island what is it...

There are who dunnits, and then there are what is its... in this case  the latest development from Watson Island offers up the latter.

The Daybreak North team at the CBC has seemingly picked up the trail of a story that first appeared (and then was removed) on the Northern View website on Wednesday ,  a report on a possible fuel, or oil leak from the Watson Island industrial site.

The CBC on Thursday morning, confirmed that the BC Ministry of Environment has dispatched an emergency response officer, along with an engineering firm to investigate the incident further.

And while the CBC worked the story into its Thursday morning lineup,  the Northern View story of yesterday, had just as quickly been taken down, without a reworked version, or with little in the way of comment as to why the report was no longer considered newsworthy.

Daybreak North followed up on the tale of the leaky pipes, offering up a note on the latest Watson Island development on their twitter feed today.



The link from their tweet leading to a short item of interest on their website.

The issue of potential environmental concerns is an ongoing theme of the saga of Watson Island, a piece of land on the outskirts of the city which has been the subject of a long running legal battle with the Chinese company Sun Wave.

A legal quagmire that has delayed development (and remediation it would seem) of the large site that once housed the Skeena Cellulose Pulp Mill.

The issue of environmental worries at Watson Island was the subject of  Northern View article back in March, (e edition March 27 pages 13-16)  which detailed some of the past history of the site and of  more concern, some of the troubles that it offers up towards a remediation plan for industrial site.

Prince Rupert City Council has long had concerns about the nature of the clean up that may be required at Watson Island and has in the past, suggested that some responsibility rests with the province on the issue.

That may be a theme that the local NDP MLA, Jennifer Rice may wish to advocate for on Council's behalf when the Legislature resumes in the Fall or winter. Seeking to help the City make its case to the province when it comes to the work required for clean up of the industrial site.

In the short term and of more concern for local residents, the City perhaps could be inclined to offer up their thoughts on the latest incident, providing some information as to the nature of the current troubles and what the cost may be to the city to address it.

CBC British Columbia-- Leak of fuel or oil discovered near Prince Rupert, B. C.
Ship and Bunker-- Officials investigating Bunker Leak in British Columbia

Update: The NorthernView provided an article (revision, update, call it what you will) on the story, posting their contribution to the discussion at just before 1 PM on August 1st.

CFTK-- Watson Oil Update (video)

You can find further background on the topic of Watson Island from our archive page.


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