Traversing troubled waters
CONDITION 2 : World-leading marine oil-spill response, prevention and recovery systems for B.C.'s coastline and ocean to manage and mitigate the risks and costs of heavy-oil pipelines and shipments.
WHAT IT MEANS: In its presentation to the Joint Review Panel for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project, the province further defined its condition, saying that a world-class marine response capacity "means ensuring that the required equipment and personnel can be mobilized in a timely and effective manner regardless of the nature and extent of the spill." The $6.5-billion Northern Gateway oil pipeline to Kitimat and Kinder Morgan's $5.4-billion twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline to Burnaby would increase tanker traffic up to 1,000 trips a year.
THE CHALLENGE: Has the B.C. government laid down a condition that cannot be met? A report for the province last month confirmed what environmentalists and First Nations have been saying all along - that the ability does not currently exist to manage the risks of a major oil-tanker spill on the B.C. coast. "We are at least a decade and millions of dollars away from having this," Living Oceans Society executive director Karen Wristen argues, adding "no equipment has as yet been invented that can deal effectively with recovery of submerged or sinking oils. Thus, even 'world-class' response fails to meet the test of effectiveness."
The study confirmed that only three to four per cent of a relatively small spill of 70,000 barrels of oil off the remote north coast would be recovered in the first five days - the critical period in terms of maximizing oil recovery. (The largest tankers that would transport oil from B.C. overseas to Asia would carry over one million barrels.) In Juan de Fuca Strait, where resources and equipment are closer, between nine and 31 per cent of the spill would be recovered under various scenarios and seasons, according to the study by U.S.-based Nuka Research and Planning Group LLC.
Other gaps relate to the lack of an escort tug system north of Vancouver, a lack of regulations that require tanker escorts in B.C. waters, an absence of rescue tugs stationed in B.C., and an absence of federal or provincial law that establishes how long-term impacts to the environment or affected communities will be established or compensated.
Concerns over the inadequacy of oil-spill response are confirmed by the Londonbased International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation, which reports that even in ideal conditions in oceans around the world, only 10 to 15 per cent of oil is likely to be recovered.
HOW INDUSTRY WOULD RESPOND: The industry-funded Western Canada Marine Response Corporation says it has the capacity to respond to a spill of 26,000 tonnes, more than its requirement of 10,000 tonnes. It has 31 oil spill response vessels, 52 response trailers and 14 support vehicles, with 11 equipment caches along the West Coast and office warehouse facilities in Burnaby, Duncan and Prince Rupert. It directly employs 27 full-time and six part-time staff , trains at least 200 members of the Fishermen's Oil Spill Emergency Team every year, and says it can draw on a pool of 500 trained responders, including marine contractors.
WHAT OTTAWA IS DOING: The federal government has established a Tanker Safety Expert Panel, which should deliver its findings later this year. It has also promised several new measures related, in part, to administrative penalties for polluters, mandatory marine response plans for oil terminal operators, annual inspections for all tankers and off shore aerial surveillance, and a review of the oil-pollution liability regime now in place. Ottawa says it will also conduct scientific research into the behaviour of diluted bitumen, the molasses-like oil produced in the oilsands that pipeline opponents argue sinks to the floor of the ocean and cannot be cleaned up. And the federal government says it will designate Kitimat - the tanker port terminus of the Northern Gateway project - as a public port, offering better traffic control and vessel safety.
B.C.'S CURRENT THINKING: How close is the condition to being met? The B.C. Ministry of Environment provided The Sun with a statement saying it is encouraged by Ottawa's establishment of the tanker safety expert panel and continues to work with the feds to collaborate on best practices. The ministry is also working on an industry-funded model with "greater financial contribution from those sectors that present the risk of spills and would enhance the provincial capacity to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from spill events."
1 million barrels: Capacity of largest tankers 1,000 trips: Potential annual increase in tanker traffic if both Trans Mountain and Northern Gateway approved 10-15%: Amount of oil that is typically recovered after an ocean spill
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