Officials are relieved that containers filled with polymeric beads have been removed from a massive cargo vessel run aground at Lark Harbour.
A private, U.S.-based salvage company is involved in the clean-up and removal of the Baltic III. While the vessel still contains fuel, which is in the process of being warmed up for removal, the greater pollutant, according to the Coast Guard’s Bruce English, was the polymeric beads.
Photo via Canadian Coast Guard
The tiny pieces of Styrofoam or plastic would have a disastrous environmental impact if they got into the water.
“They took the eight containers off and put them onboard the barge and brought them into Corner Brook,” says English. “The biggest issue with those beads would be if they got into the environment. They’d be extremely difficult to pick up or recover. They’re small and they get into the shoreline, and birds and fish and stuff. We didn’t want them into the water.”
