Arctic research station a 'toxic ghost
town'
Key Northwest Passage complex left to rot, says U of A researcher
MARGARET MUNRO
Canwest News Service
(A 2009 article from the University of Alberta)
The federal government has left a research station rotting at the western
entrance of the fabled Northwest Passage, say scientists who describe it as a
national, and possibly toxic, disgrace. A dark, dank two-storey complex, nearly
new when Environment Canada walked away in 1997, has become
a giant incubator for mould. Oldˇfuel drums are buried underground. Dilapidated
trucks, and a vintage snowmobile, are lined up as if they'll one day roar back
to life.
"It's basically a toxic ghost town," says noted University of Alberta polar
researcher John England, who is appalled at the state of the remote outpost
abandoned by the federal government 12 year ago. He says a few million dollars a
year could have maintained the base on Prince Patrick Island, which is at a key
location in the western Arctic. Instead, the region is now more isolated than
ever, with the federal government cutting logistics support for people venturing
into the area. The Mould Bay base is in such a sorry state the buildings are no
longer fit for human habitation and the site will likely cost tens to hundreds
of millions of dollars to clean up, say England and his colleagues.
"It's a travesty," says England, who has spent 40 years exploring the Arctic
Archipelago and has helped rewrite the geological and glacial history of the
region.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's northern strategy lists protecting the Arctic
environment as a priority, but government documents show a planned
"decommissioning" of Mould Bay has been repeatedly put off. The big federal push
now is for construction, with $85 million to be spent over the next two years
refurbishing and expanding "key" Arctic research stations and another $2 million
to plan a "world-class" High Arctic research station, expected to cost well over
$100 million.
Canada and the U.S originally established the Mould Bay outpost in 1948 as part
of a network of High Arctic weather stations. It was also a prime location for
asserting Canadian sovereignty during the Cold War, and is ideally located for
patrols. "You take off at the end of the runway in Mould Bay and in minutes
you're over the middle of Northwest Passage," says England. "It appears they
just walked away," says geologist Roy Coulthard, who has been doing field work
on Prince Patrick Island since 2004. His University of Alberta team has passed
through Mould Bay several times . . Environment Canada hoped the 1997 exit would
not be permanent. Then in 2002 a decision was made to close it and $8 million
was allocated in 2003 for the "decommissioning" of Mould Bay and another
Arcticweather station. But the decommissioning was delayed and, according to a
July 2008 federal report, $7.3 million of the $8 million allocated for the clean
up "cannot be accounted for."
