Barely two days after the end of the cleanup of the mysterious oil slick that appeared in the river in Pointe-aux-Trembles earlier this month, the area has once again been hit by an oil spill.
The Canadian Coast Guard, responsible for the first clean-up operation, confirmed Thursday that it had received a report indicating the appearance of “a new oil slick” at the Pointe-aux-Trembles marina.
“The GCC has re-mobilized personnel to the scene. Booms are deployed, a suction truck to recover the contaminated water is on site and absorbents are also placed in the water,” explains the federal agency.
A helicopter and a drone are used to provide aerial support.
“It smells even stronger than last time,” says François Cantin, a resident living along the river in the area.
He is rather critical of the approach of the authorities who have still not identified the source of the first spill. “They did not investigate in depth last time,” he says, stressing that this spill occurred “like last time, following a heavy rain.”
“We are very concerned about the situation. […] “We want to know the source of this contamination because until we know, it can happen again and that’s what’s happening today,” commented the general director of the Jacques-Cartier ZIP Committee, Élise Mercure.
The latter says it also reported to the Ministry of the Environment the presence of the contaminant on the banks of Sainte-Thérèse Island, much further east than the Pointe-aux-Trembles marina, a sign that this spill would cover a large area.
Barely finished
This new spill comes as the Coast Guard indicated two days earlier that it had completed cleaning the banks of the St. Lawrence River following a first oil spill at the same location on July 11.
In total, 19,000 litres of a mixture of water and hydrocarbons, which contained approximately 1,000 litres of hydrocarbons, were pumped in connection with the spill. But the source of the black, viscous material, later identified as motor oil, remains unknown to this day.
A few days later, Quebec suspended its investigation into a possible land-based source of the contamination, a decision that was “unacceptable” in the eyes of the Rivière Foundation.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
In total, 19,000 litres of a mixture of water and hydrocarbons, containing approximately 1,000 litres of hydrocarbons, were pumped during the July 11 spill.
The Coast Guard, responsible for identifying potential marine sources of pollution, also indicated on July 22 that it had “completed its work on identifying potential sources of the pollution observed at Pointe-aux-Trembles.”
“We can say that if the source flowed continuously, we would be able to find it. To date, there is no longer any pollution being added to the environment,” said a spokesperson for the federal organization, Émilie Proteau-Beaulieu.