Let’s get facts straight on tanker traffic

Re: “Alaskan crude poses less danger than dilbit,” letter, Sept. 4. The letter-writer believes tankers bound for U.S. refineries head into Admiralty Inlet and Puget Sound only.

In reality, they head to Cherry Point and Anacortes, where there are multiple refineries and loading docks. They go via Rosario Strait and Haro and Boundary straits, the latter being the same route to Vancouver.

This is right through the center of the San Juan and Gulf Islands.

Foreign tankers to and from all above destinations will always have either U.S. or Canadian pilots onboard; tankers over a certain size will also have a tethered escort tug once east of Victoria or Port Angeles.

The writer says diluted bitumen is a more dangerous pollutant than crude oil. I have yet to see the science that proves this often-repeated statement.

We should be burning less fossil fuels. Climate change is a scientifically proven fact now. Burning fuel emits poisons into the air that cause cancers and cardio-respiratory disease in humans.

We need to reduce end-user consumption by financial disincentives such as carbon and large-vehicle taxes that can replace current government tax revenue so as to be revenue-neutral.

Let’s use actual facts when we argue for or against a project. Ken Mawdsley Victoria