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Canada tightens ocean safeguards
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a C$1.5 billion plan to protect Canada’s Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic coastlines, which he claims will put Canada in a world-leading position for pollution and protection in its oceans.
He said Nov. 7 that the funding over five years will include a marine safety system, without indicating whether the plan will meet the British Columbia government’s demand for three new salvage tugs costing up to C$50 million each and a new Coast Guard station at Prince Rupert.
Nor did Trudeau mention his promise last year to implement a ban on oil tanker traffic off British Columbia’s north coast, although Transport Minister Marc Garneau indicated a moratorium could be imposed later this year.
Garneau told reporters the government is close to making an announcement on a ban, indicating the Trudeau administration is looking for ways to offset its anticipated green light for Kinder Morgan’s expansion of its Trans Mountain pipeline to export 890,000 barrels per day of crude bitumen from the Alberta oil sands.
Garneau told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that the ban on tanker traffic is a “mandate item for me and we are going to deliver on it.”
How far the moratorium will extend and whether it will affect tanker shipments from Alaska to the U.S. West Coast is not yet clear.
The safety measures will improve tanker safety and spill response regimes which Garneau said are “inadequate” compared with other maritime countries.
“Canada needs a national world-class plan to increase maritime safety and improve emergency response and strengthen partnerships with indigenous peoples and coastal communities,” he said.
Scuttling Northern Gateway It is widely believed that the tanker ban would scuttle the now-slender hopes for Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline that would ship bitumen from the deepwater port at Kitimat, but is expected to ease the burden on the government of clearing the final obstacles standing in the path of Trans Mountain.
However, Kitimat Mayor Joanne Monaghan questions why a ban would only apply to the northern coast.
“Is there a difference between crude oil being spilled down south and crude oil being spilled in the north?” she told the CBC.
Garneau carried his pledges to the Heiltsuk First Nation at Bella Bella on the central British Columbia coast where cleanup is still underway following the sinking a month ago of the tug Nathan E. Stewart, when 224,000 liters of diesel fuel were spilled over an area that includes a commercial clam bed.
A British Columbia environment official said about 5,000 vessels a year operate in British Columbia’s southern shipping lanes, traffic that is expected to reach 6,200 within two years.
He said the ships carry fuels and products of all varieties, but many are not double-hulled in line with crude tankers.
- GARY PARK
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