Review on the Clean Up of Cape Hallett Station

• Main Author: Carson, Nicholas
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: University of Canterbury 2008
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Victoria Land; New Zealand; Hallett; Cape Hallett; Hallett Station; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/13935

Past human activity has littered Antarctica with abandoned rubbish, machinery and buildings creating an environmental concern. The Antarctic community has addressed the issue by the creation of the Environmental Protocol. The Protocol has put environmental restrictions on present and past activities and the methods of waste managements for these sites. The removal and clean up of these areas are costly to the nations in which the activities originated from as the Protocol places the responsibility onto them. But for environmental protection and the conservation of the “wildness” factor in Antarctica, these requirements and regulations have to be enforced and completed by all of the different Antarctic programs. The New Zealand and United States of America programs, had a combined station at Cape Hallett in Northern Victoria Land, which was abandoned in 1973. The area has had various clean up attempts made spanning the last 34 years as environmental commitments and moral pressures were put on Antarctic programs to remove and remediate, present and past wastes from sites. This review will focus on the Cape Hallett Station and the history of the clean up activities of this site.