On the sixth day.

Some may have noticed the appearance change of this page. I was happy with the old but it was getting me down looking at a grayish screen and then looking out to a grayish scene outdoors. Change is good as a holiday eh, and way cheaper.

I’m not shedding any tears for Tom; his only saving grace in my opinion was he returned the shipment of marine freight directly from Lewisport to the coast, albeit for partisan reasons.
Previously the Liberals had botched things royally, and played partisan politics, by first insisting that freight be roaded from the Island to Cartwright then loaded on ships, then change that to being shipped to Cartwright, off loaded and re loaded before shipment north. Made no bloody sense then and no bloody sense now at all for the end users, and the end users voices were ignored in the initial decision before one Liberal minister had some sympathy and took the road thing off the table.

And what about the Minister of Transports role in all this? Or did she have a role given the Danny style?



Since the above media release many of the freighter runs originate in Lewisport, this cuts down on run time, double and triple handling, less damaged and lost/stolen freight.

I have respect for Wally for his research abilities and commitment to Labrador. But at times he needs to remove that red woolen blanket from over his eyes.

Fog again, six days and counting. We did have a little break last evening, fog and wet snow.



CBC Labrador Mornings Paul Pigott played an interview with a spokesperson from Canada Coast Guard {CCG} this morning, supposedly, updating the McNally Olympic situation.
Sounded to me like the CCG think it’s funny that the only ground bound winter visitors to the site were polar bears and a few hunters from Nain. If it had not been for some photographs sent to CCG by the hunters no one would have any idea of the ground conditions, like 12 feet of ice.

The CCG guy spent a lot of time telling us of his vast 24 years experience with environmental dealings and how he spent 2 weeks at the site last fall. It was high energy, high energy, high energy, OK we get the point. Alas he did not have any answers to questions of why no one has been on the ground when conditions allowed. or if there will be any.

No one responsible has any idea if the 90.000 plus liters of oil is still on board or some place else.
According to CCG the responsible party {the owners of the barge} did some over flights of the area during winter. I and many others were of the understanding that because of the very rough conditions pre winter that closer inspections were to be carried out during winter or spring. I would be surprised if fly overs constitute closer inspections.
The CCG spokesperson said that past years research showed very little freeze up in that area. That does not explain much except lack of interest.

To date no one seems to know, including CCG, what plans if any the owners have for doing a discovery inspection to find out if any contaminants are still on board.

So answers are still being sought, seems like only CBC are asking and a lonely Blogger is doing little follow ups.

Out of sight out of mind?

I tried to speak to a NG environmental department official this morning, he is stuck in Goose Bay. When weather clears I will attempt contact again, the barge is stuck on Inuit lands.

A small plane landed in Nain yesterday in some bad weather, 500 ft ceiling and 11 miles visibility. Hope the people who chartered it think the risk was worth it.