Liberal MP Joyce Murray’s bill calls for ban on oil tankers off B.C.‘s central and north coasts
Vancouver Quadra Liberal MP Joyce Murray has introduced a private member’s bill to ban oil-tanker traffic in inland waters off B.C.‘s central and north coasts.
Murray’s bill, which was presented in Parliament today, would outlaw oil tankers in Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait, and Queen Charlotte Sound.
“It goes from the tip of northern Vancouver Island to northern British Columbia,” Murray told the Straight by phone from Ottawa. “So it’s all the waters surrounding Haida Gwaii.”
She added that there would be exemptions for the transportation of diesel, gasoline, and heating-oil products to communities along the coast.
She also said that there is an exemption for condensate, which is a natural-gas product used to reduce the viscosity of bitumen so that it can be shipped through pipelines.
Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway project would see the construction of two pipelines between Kitimat and central Alberta. One would transport condensate to the tar sands, whereas the other would ship tar-sands oil to the coast.
From there, tankers would transport the fuel to markets in Asia.
Murray said that a spill of condensate, which is brought in by tankers, would be less damaging than a crude-oil spill. If her bill became law, it would kibosh Enbridge’s plans to ship oil through ecologically sensitive waters.
“If we had a major oil spill, our coastline would never be the same,” she stated.
The private member’s bill was submitted a week after Parliament approved a motion banning oil tankers off the central and north coasts.
That motion, submitted by NDP MP Nathan Cullen, narrowly passed in a 143-138 vote.
The Conservatives voted against Cullen’s motion, and Murray said she expects that they’ll also vote against her private member’s bill.
No call to ban offshore drilling
Murray has not sought a legislated ban on offshore drilling in her private member’s bill.
“I’ll tell you why: because the Conservatives at this time are not contesting the moratorium on drilling,” Murray noted. “They are denying there has been a moratorium on tanker traffic in inside waters.
Meanwhile, no federal party has called for a ban on oil-tanker traffic through Port Metro Vancouver, despite calls to do so from a citizens’ group called No Tanks.
“What I would say is there are already some tankers coming out of the port of Vancouver with very tight limitations on their route that was put in place by the Liberals back in the 1970s—again, to protect the coastline from spills,” Murray said. “Any expansion of that at this point is quite hypothetical. Should there be a plan for expansion, any responsible government would have to look very closely at the various arguments.”