ae iO ~ eek December 14, 1988 News 985-2131 Classified 986-6222 LIC Oil source ENVIRONMENT CANADA unknown officials are working to determine the source and nature of a large, oil-based stick which contaminated the West Vancouver waterfront in an area extending from Ambleside to Dundarave sometime Friday evening. Accompanying the slick was a broken mass of brown, Gecaying organic matter and detritus con- gealed by the oil, While the source of the oil re- mains a mystery, officials have ruled out local vessels as the source. Said Environment Canada project officer Paul Ross: ‘‘We have no reports from the Coast Guard regarding problems from vessels in the area, lt was possibly road runoff or a leaking under- ground tank. Other spills of this nature have proven to be from tanks.”’ As reported in an Oct. 23 News story, a recently-completed En- vironment Canada study of rer'- dential! Underground Storage By MICHAEL BECKER News Reporter his home. “Near the edge of the water you can still see a film of oil. The sand has absorbed oif .o a depth of four to six inches. The surface looks innocent, but the water is releasing it with the tide,”* he said. But Ross said the oil will be naturally degraded over time. ‘It’s not a significant spill in terms of environmental impact,’ he said. But Lange fears the waterfront food chain in the area con- taminated by the spill has been ir- reparably disrupted. **This was an extraordinary bit of beach here. Raccoons would fish here. Eve POLLUTED WEST VAN SHORELINE: SEE PHOTO PAGE 3 Tanks (RUSTs) on the North Shore estimated thal approximate- ly 15.2 million litres of fuel oil could be contained in abandoned and deteriorating RUSTs buried around the Lower Mainland. West Vancouver resident Michael Lange, 49, who lives in a home fronting the beach in the 1500-block of Argyle Avenue, alerted authorities after he awoke to the smell of diesel Saturday. Said Lange: ‘tl had been work- ing early and noticed a bad smell around. | thought our furnace had sprung a leak, When my wife got up she noticed there were no sea birds out. My 10-year-old got up to go to the beach and said, ‘Dad- dy, the beach smells awful and it’s all greasy.""* Lange said at least 200 feet of beach up to the high water mark has been contaminated near even seen sea otters. A flock of Canada geese was here recently. There is kelp, seaweed, lots of marine life in the rocks, shellfish, crabs. The damage is done and this portion of beach is dead for a con- siderable amount of time. It's like radiation, The damage is under- ground, Unless you know about it, you don't notice. It’s just crazy how imperceptible the destruction really can be.” Vancouver Harbour, Environ- ment Canada, West Vancouver Municipality and West Vancouver District, Fire Department officials responded Saturday to take sam- ples and attempt to determine the source of the contamination. Ross said West) Vancouver municipal workers pulled manhole covers in an area between $Sth Street and 25th Sureet, bur did not detect an oil odor. Pian your weekend WEST Vancouver actress Lauric Dungey --Onty in B.C.! MAKING CHRISTMAS bright: members of the Burrard Yacht Club have decorated & dozen boats with lights for the holiday season. The boats will form an honor guard for carol ships which will arrive at Waterfront Park, Thursday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. Stan- ding on the bow spring of the 62-ft. sailboat Perihelion are (left to right): Jay Crandell, staff captain at the Burrard Yacht Club; yacht club commedore Mitch Welters; and fleet captain Hugh Harper.