After 11 years of bringing you local reporting, the team behind the Vancouver Observer has moved on to Canada's National Observer. You can follow Vancouver culture reporting over there from now on. Thank you for all your support over the years!
Canada couldn't deal with a major oil spill, minister says. Neither could Vancouver, local activist declares.
Rex Weyler in a photograph from rexweyler.com
The government's environmental auditor announced today that Canada could not deal with a major oil spill. Rex Weyler, a local opponent to oil tankers in Vancouver's waters, couldn't agree more.
"The government is not remotely prepared for a major oil spill," Weyler told the Vancouver Observer today. "An oil spill in Vancouver Harbour, for example, would move quickly with tides and winds before any significant response could contain it. The oil would be up to the head of Indian Arm in a day and in Nanaimo and Victoria within about 4 days.
"Meanwhile, our Municiple, Provincial, and Federal governments would be scrambling to assemble response systems. There would be pressure to apply toxic dispersants. Such a spill would devastate our marine ecosystems, kill sea birds, mammals, fish, crustaceans, and the plankton they live on. The politicians are proposing a ban on tanker on BC’s north coast, which is good, and which I support, and which No Tanks supports, but .. the only real tankers now actually shipping oil from our coast are going through Burrard Inlet," Weyler said.
"Any ban on tankers should include the tankers that are actually now threatening our coast. I support, and No Tanks supports, a ban on tankers in Douglas Channel to Kitimat, and we also believe that any such ban should include the actual tankers now shipping tar sands crude oil through Burrard Inlet and Georgia Strait."
Read More:
More in News
Speak up about this article on Facebook or Twitter. Do this by liking Vancouver Observer on Facebook or following us @Vanobserver on Twitter. We'd love to hear from you.