MV Miner contaminants driving up cleanup costs

The cost of the MV Miner cleanup is on the rise.

The original price tag to get the ship off Scatarie Island was $12 million. Now, the province says federal estimates of contaminates on the ship were too low. Workers found almost five times more contaminants aboard the wreck than what federal government inspectors had estimated.

Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal Minister Geoff MacLellan says he can't say how much more the salvage will cost, but did say the federal government hasn't offered any assistance.

More than half of the vessel has been dismantled.

“The vessel is essentially down to basically a square hunk of metal,” said MacLellan.

A local community group says it’s happy with the removal, but feels a government study into the cause of the marine accident is needed. The MV Miner ran aground as it was being towed from Montreal to Turkey in 2011.

“With a federal election coming up, all the parties will commit to review the regulations and see what they can do, so that there's a kind of MV Miner learning lesson not just for Cape Breton, but much more broadly,” said Sean Howard, with the Main-à-Dieu Community Development Association.

MacLellan says it will likely be in March when the vessel is cut to pieces so that it can be pulled onto the shore. From there, efforts will focus on removing the scrap metal from Scatarie Island via barge and tearing down the camp.