Sable Island Station

Clean up of abandoned fuel cache on Sable Island

(April 2005, revised June 2005)

The remnants of the light keeper’s house at East Light, with

a cache of recently exposed fuel drums in the foreground.

At various locations on Sable Island, remnants of the old Life Saving Stations and other human activities of decades ago are exposed as wind blows sand away from previously buried structures and supply depots. Although it is a rare occurrence, some such materials can involve hazardous substances. While working in the East Light area, ZL, alerted by the smell of fuel, found a cache of old 45 gallon drums. There were twelve drums lying on their sides in a group just south of the old house debris, and several others scattered about. It was obvious that some of the drums were full, and fuel was seeping into the surrounding sand.

ZL reported the find to the Station manager, and the Canadian Coast Guard was immediately notified. CCG has responsibility both because it is the management authority for Sable Island, and because the East Light complex was an Aids to Navigation station. However, on this occasion, due to operational requirements there would have been a delay in CCG’s ability to respond, so Environment Canada staff of the Sable Island Station conducted the clean up. To assist, CCG sent out a pump and other necessary materials.

Station staff successfully transferred the contents - roughly 1200 liters - from the leaking drums into new drums, and secured and packaged the old empties which contained fuel residues. The drums were left in a depot at the East Light location, and were taken off Sable Island in early June during the annual sealift and transported, by the Canadian Coast Guard, to the mainland for appropriate disposal.

Click on thumbnails for more information

The East Light area, showing two debris mounds – in the foreground, the light keeper’s house, and in the background (in the right side of the photograph), the remnants of the old light tower. Above, the site before the old drums had been collected and emptied; below the site in early June after completion of the work.

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