A mess of cars: Cleanup begins
More scrap cars and metal toppled into the Selkirk Water on Saturday as crews worked to stabilize a listing barge that sent as many as 100 vehicles into the water a day earlier.
Boaters and passersby were being kept away from the area near Jutland Road on Saturday as a Salish Sea Industrial Services crane lifted cars onto an adjacent barge or the land nearby.
Between 20 and 100 cars fell in the water Friday when a barge being loaded with crumpled metal tilted to one side, and then the other.
The barge, owned by Seaspan, was being operated by Schnitzer Steel, a scrap-metal recycling company in the Rock Bay area.
No one was injured in the incident.
Area resident Dave Jackson said he watched about four cars fall into the water Saturday as the remaining cars shifted on the barge as it was being unloaded. Jackson and Mike Taylor, who lives in a houseboat on the Gorge waterway, helped recover car parts, hot water tanks and propane tanks on Friday.
The number of cars in the water won’t be known until the barge is stabilized and further investigation can take place, said Graham Knox, director of the province’s environmental emergency program. It is expected to take at least four days to fully unload the vessel, he said.
“What we don’t want is someone going around that vessel while it is still unstable and having the vessel shift and cause an injury or accident or any of the materials falling off and causing an injury or accident,” Knox said.
Schnitzer Steel has brought in a naval architect to assist in the offloading and stabilization of the barge, he said. An excavator on top of the scrap metal will be removed when the barge is stable.
Despite the odour and the sheen from residual oil and gas on the water, a preliminary visual inspection suggests the environmental impact is minor, Knox said.
“Any spill is a bad spill — we don’t want any hydrocarbons spilled — but in the grand scheme of things, this is fairly minor,” he said.
A boom, manned by Western Canada Marine Response Corporation, is in place to contain the majority of hydrocarbons on the water’s surface and floating debris. Schnitzer has hired environmental consultant company Stantec to evaluate the contaminant level with the B.C. Environ- ment Ministry, Knox said.
“Based on what we are seeing, it is a very thin layer of hydrocarbons,” he said, adding that the amount is “likely only … litres.”
In a statement Saturday, Schnitzer Steel said all of the vehicles had been drained of fluids before being loaded, and that it is taking every effort to minimize the environmental impact.
The metal-recycling company did not say what caused the barge to become unbalanced. It did not give details on what it will do to clean up debris and restore the waterway.
“We have engaged experts in relevant fields including marine design and environmental protection to direct our response efforts,” the company said in the statement.
“Our focus is on maintaining the safety of all involved and minimizing environmental impacts throughout the response. Once the barge has been further stabilized, we will continue with appropriate cleanup efforts, including removal of material from the water.”
Barge owner Seaspan directed all comment Saturday to Schnitzer.
Investigations are underway by WorkSafe B.C., Transport Canada and the Ministry of Environment.
WorkSafe B.C. has issued a stop-work order to Schnitzer.