This text is part of Courrier de la planete. Click here to subscribe.
Nearly 30 years after the start of recovery operations led by the federal government, a tiny portion of the 200,000 bags of sand and fuel oil contaminated with PCBs buried in the dunes of the Îles-de-la-Madeleine have been found, show the data obtained by Le Devoir. The mayor of the municipality, Antonin Valiquette, does not hesitate to speak of a “ghost” who periodically returns to remind the islanders of the impacts of the sinking of the Irving Whale in 1970.
The Madelinots know this story well. In September 1970, a barge containing more than 4,200 tonnes of heavy fuel oil and at least 7,500 kilograms of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) sank approximately 60 meters deep in the heart of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The spill of hundreds of tons of fuel oil caused by the shipwreck reached the coasts of Prince Edward Island, but also, and above all, the Magdalen Islands. The beaches are soiled by patches of this viscous fuel oil, mainly between the Pointe de l’Est and L’Étang-du-Nord.
At this time, it is not known that this fuel oil is contaminated with PCBs. This information would not be revealed by Irving until 1995, when there was discussion about refloating the barge, which leaked fuel oil for years into the Gulf before being pulled out of the waters in 1996.
Bags and dunes
When the fuel oil plates washed up on the magnificent beaches of the Magdalen Islands at the end of September 1970, the emergency was to clean them up using makeshift means. The solution ? Collect the fuel oil stuck to the sand and put it in bags which are buried on site, in the dunes located at the top of the beaches.
How many bags were buried in this way? We ignore it. This number “remains unknown to date,” admits Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), in response to questions from Le Devoir. According to available estimates, there are 150,000 to 200,000, but “impossible” to confirm a precise figure.
Not only do we not know how many of these bags filled with toxic substances are found in the dunes of this archipelago popular with tourists, but we also do not know where they were buried, deplores the mayor of the Îles-de-la-Madeleine in an interview, Antonin Valiquette. “Even if we wanted to remove all the bags, it wouldn’t be possible. We don’t know where they are, how many there are and what the impacts would be on the dunes. They were not mapped at the time. We are therefore powerless. We cannot resolve the problem quickly. »
One thing is certain, adds Mr. Valiquette, “it’s a painful memory that comes back periodically.” These bags in fact resurface from time to time, thanks to coastal hazards and erosion which is hitting the Islands more than ever, due to the impacts of the climate crisis.
Each time, a recovery protocol is put into motion, in partnership with the Canadian Coast Guard. “But you have to be careful, because removing the bags and looking for other bags can contribute to destabilizing the dunes, which are important for protection against coastal erosion,” explains Antonin Valiquette.
According to data provided to Le Devoir by the MPO, a tiny portion of the buried bags have so far been recovered. “From 1996 to today, the Canadian Coast Guard has made 59 interventions, which have resulted in the recovery of a total of 9,076 bags,” we specify by email. This means that in almost 30 years of recovery operations, between 4.5% and 6% of bags would have been recovered.
Risks
Since tens of thousands of bags are expected to remain untraceable for several more decades, do they represent risks to the environment and the health of Madelinots?
The MPO wants to be reassuring by citing the public health department of the Health and Social Services Agency of Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine: the contents of the bags “do not present an obvious risk to health human” since the content is there in solid form “and the population is not directly exposed to it”.
Same story from the mayor, who recalls that samples are also systematically taken around the sites where bags are found in order to check the potential migration of contamination.
Antonin Valiquette nevertheless emphasizes that this toxic “ghost” which reappears sporadically is a cruel reminder of the risks associated with fossil fuels. “We remember all too well the risks of the hydrocarbon sector in terms of the environment and territorial protection,” he says.
Several Madelinots have also mobilized to oppose the gas exploration projects piloted in the archipelago by the Gastem company in the early 2010s, but also the oil projects in the Old Harry sector, in the northeast. of the archipelago. In both cases, the projects were ultimately abandoned, before the imposition of legislation that banned exploration in Quebec.
“An oil spill on the Magdalen Islands would be catastrophic. Our economy is based on tourism, commercial fishing and the beauty of our landscapes. It would also be serious for the Madelinots, who value their territory. So let’s make the necessary decisions upstream to avoid this,” summarizes Mr. Valiquette. Many oil tankers pass through the Gulf each year.