Canada’s pollution prevention and response regime:
Time for a reboot By K. Joseph Spears
O
n March 18, 2013, the Government of Canada held a press conference to announce that it was enacting new steps to ensure that Canada has a “ world class tanker safety system”. At the same time, the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project Joint Review Panel was sitting in Prince Rupert to hear testimony on marine pollution response. Earlier this year, British Columbia Premier Christie Clark announced that one of British Columbia’s terms for supporting pipeline development in the province required that a “world-class oil spill response plan” be put in place. Minister of Transport Denis Lebel and Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver echoed those words during the press conference which included news that the Safeguarding Canada’s Seas and Skies Act had been introduced into Parliament earlier that day. Both federal ministers made it clear during the press conference that the Government of Canada was committed to protecting both the safety of Canadians and the environment. No development would proceed unless rigorous environmental protection measures were in place. “Canada is taking further action to ensure that the world tanker fleet is safely shipping oil and liquefied natural gas through Canada’s waterways before any new energy export facilities become operational.” The message was similar to that provided by former Minister Jim Prentice during his speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade last spring: “Ottawa has sole jurisdiction over our territorial waters. So it must take the lead in developing 32 BC Shipping News May 2013
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Both federal ministers made it clear during the press conference that the Government of Canada was committed to protecting both the safety of Canadians and the environment.
a management regime that will take into account the rewards as well as the environmental risks of increased West Coast tanker traffic. Legislation will be required. So too will contingency plans for unforeseen eventualities.” Tankers in Canadian waters is not a new activity and can be traced back to the turn of the century with the first bulk tanker of petroleum products sailing through Vancouver Harbour. The former Imperial Ioco oil refinery at Port Moody Harbour commenced operation in 1919. Over much of the last century, Canada had a deepsea fleet of marine tankers. Many of the oil nationals maintained their own fleets for global trade and for supplying refineries that serviced the Canadian market. However, these fleets waned for a number of economic reasons. Today, most tankers in Canadian waters are foreign-flagged. Given the requirement for west coast tidal access to open up new Asian markets for the oilsands exports, the issue of marine tanker traffic has risen to the top of public consciousness through a very vocal and organized campaign to ban all proposed (and presumably existing) tanker traffic. Over the last four years, there have been various private members’ bills submitted to Parliament advocating a complete tanker ban on the West
Coast. A complete tanker ban is seen by many commentators and groups as the only way to alleviate marine risks arising from the bulk transport of oil in Canadian waters. To say this is a politically charged situation is an understatement. Coastal First Nations in British Columbia, who oppose the Northern Gateway project and who have pulled out of the NEB hearings, released a poignant video on the 24th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez (March 24) talking about the risks that tankers pose to the pristine British Columbian coastline complete with Paul Simon’s “Sounds of Silence”. It is against this backdrop that the government initiatives need to be considered. Dialogue on this important environmental and economic issue is critical. Most do not realize that the majority of oil consumed by Canadians is imported by marine tankers to the eastern half of the country. This marine trade has been free of a major tanker oil spill since 1979 when the British tanker M/T Kurdistan spilled 7,000 tonnes of oil into the Cabot Strait which then washed ashore along a 550mile stretch of the Nova Scotia coast. In the last 30 years, Canada has had a very solid safety record with respect to major marine tanker spills which, incidentally, have decreased globally to zero in recent years. Canada’s oil pollution