THE TRUTH ABOUT OIL TANKERS.
The expansion of Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain pipeline, which exports Alberta crude oil by tanker through the Port of Vancouver, was a high- profile issue in the recent B.C. election. With the election results still unclear and the possibility of the Green party and NDP, who are both against the pipeline, forming a government, the issue continues to weigh on the province’s political future.
Premier Christy Clark agreed to support the federally approved project in exchange for Ottawa’s commitment to a substantially upgraded emergency spill-response plan and financial compensation from Kinder Morgan that would see the province paid as much as $ 1 billion over the next two decades. This didn’t appease spill- fearing Vancouverites who shifted their votes to NDP Leader John Horgan after he vowed to use “every tool in the toolbox” to fight the project. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson also supported Horgan, stating that expanding Kinder Morgan’s shipping traffic from five to 35 tankers per month isn’t worth the “disastrous risks’’ of a spill.
But does the project actually pose such risks? Let’s move beyond the rhetoric to some hard facts. While there has never been a serous oiltanker spill on Canada’s Pacific coast, the truly disastrous environmental impact of the 1989 Exxon- Valdez accident in Alaska’s Prince William Sound is the reason cited most often to oppose the Kinder Morgan expan- sion.
Paradoxically, the ExxonValdez spill proved to be a powerful catalyst that set off a spill- prevention renaissance in the global oilshipping industry. Investigators concluded that the spill wouldn’t have happened if the Exxon-Valdez had been a double- hulled vessel. As a result, 150 countries mandated a 25- year phase out of single- hull tankers and a requirement for all new vessels to be double- hulled by the end of 2014. That phaseout began soon after with new, greatly improved ships progressively replacing older ones. The new double-hulled ships, combined with advanced navigation systems and other safety measures, have led to a precipitous drop in global seaborne oil spills from an annual average of 2,340 barrels per day in the 1980s to just 110 barrels per day since 2010. That staggering reduction has been achieved despite a doubling of tanker shipments to 60- million barrels per day. Nowadays, hundreds of times more petroleum runs down municipal storm drains into the world’s rivers and oceans from leaking motor vehicles, trucking spills, illegally disposed used oil and other land- based sources than from tanker spills.
That’s the global picture. What about here in Canada? Let’s start on our eastern coasts. Transport Canada data show that over 1.6- million barrels of petroleum are safely moved from 23 Atlantic Canadian ports each day. Another 500,000 barrels per day move up the St. Lawrence to Montreal and other Quebec ports. Overall, Eastern Canada’s ports berth some 4,000 inbound petroleum tankers each year without any major incidents.
Due to the proximity of the Vancouver and Seattle areas, analysis of tanker movements on our West Coast must include both Canadian and American traffic. Essentially all tanker traffic must transit the Strait of Juan de Fuca bordered to the north by Vancouver Island and to the south by Washington State. After passing Victoria, American vessels move south towards Seattle and Canadian vessels move north toward Vancouver. The American tanker shipments are dominated by Alaskan heavy oil similar in grade to Canada’s diluted oil sands blend. Of the approximately 1.2- million barrels per day that go through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, about 500,000 barrels per day go to the Seattle region and some 700,000 barrels per day travel to or from Vancouver.
This traffic includes tugboat- towed barges, fuel tankers and, five days out of each month, an outbound tanker carrying crude from Kinder Morgan’s Vancouver pipeline terminal. Despite hundreds of millions of barrels of seaborn tanker petroleum movements over many decades, the only significant spill on our West Coast didn’t come from an oil tanker. It occurred when the BC Ferries vessel Queen of the North foundered near Price Rupert with 1,750 barrels of fuel on board.
Kinder Morgan’s spill-prevention measures go far beyond employing the strongest and safest double- hulled tankers. Certified Marine Navigation Pilots will be on the bridge until the ships reach open ocean. Powerful ocean tugs, one of which will be tethered to the tanker and the other available to assist, will keep the ships safe, even in the highly unlikely event of engine failure.
Like many West Coasters, my wife and I treasure the unique and beautiful environment of the region, spending time kayaking its waters and anchoring our boat in its myriad coves. I’m not worried about one more oil tanker per day. But I do worry about the boat diesel, heavy bunker fuel and chemical pollutants pumped from the bilges of the other 6,000 large ships that travel our waters each year, ships that are not nearly as closely scrutinized as those 35 Kinder Morgan tankers will surely be.