Kirby to pay fine of $2.2M
Canadian tribe keeps pressure on Houston company to further atone for 2016 oil spill
The Heiltsuk Nation, an indigenous community along Canada’s Pacific coast, is coming after Kirby Corp. on its home turf, purchasing local ads that criticize the Houston company for a 2016 diesel spill that fouled its waters and hurt its local economy, traditional ceremonies and seafood harvesting.
The Heiltsuk, which is a First Nation tribe, launched the campaign Tuesday, on the same day the Provincial Court of British Columbia sentenced Kirby, an operator of tank barges, to pay a $2.2 million penalty ($2.9 million Canadian). Kirby had previously pleaded guilty to three criminal counts related to the 2016 marine accident: depositing a substance harmful to migratory birds, depositing a harmful substance in water frequented by fish and proceeding in a compulsory pilotage area not under the conduct of a licensed pilot or the holder of a pilotage certificate.
Marilyn Slett, the elected chief of the Heiltsuk Nation, called the penalty “a drop in the bucket” and argued true justice would be paying for an environmental impact assessment, admitting civil liability and working openly and honestly to address compensation and remediation for harm caused by the spill.
“The Heiltsuk have been here forever,” Slett said in an open letter penned to Kirby CEO David Grzebinski, “and I am asking you as the leader of a company that does business by traversing our territorial waters on a regular basis, to make good on your public pronouncements, and to take care of our community in the same way you would your own hometown of Houston.”
The Heiltsuk Nation will run ads on Chron.com and social media asking “Does Kirby Care?” These ads will link to doeskirbycare.com where people can join the open letter to Grzebinski. Copies of their letters will be sent to Kirby, the Canadian Minister of Transport, the Canadian Minister of Fisheries,
Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard and the Pacific Pilotage Authority.
Slett said the campaign aims to raise awareness of the spill’s impact on the Heiltsuk Nation and bring public pressure on Kirby Corp. to address it.
“I would hope that (Kirby) would look at it and see an opportunity to do the right thing,” she said.
Kirby, which participated in spill response efforts, said it would comply with Tuesday’s sentence.
“We sincerely regret this incident, and we have amended our operating procedures, training, auditing, promotion protocols and equipment to help reduce the potential for future accidents,” the company said in a statement.
Fateful accident
The Heiltsuk Nation, with a history that goes back as far as 11,500 years, currently consists of about 2,600 members. Their main economic drivers are fishing and logging.
The accident occurred Oct. 13, 2016, when a Kirby tug barge unit ran aground in the Seaforth Channel near Bella Bella, located some 98 nautical miles north of Port Hardy on Vancouver Island.
The tug, the Nathan E. Stewart, was headed to the Port of Vancouver pushing an empty tank barge. None of the crew members were injured in the accident, but about 29,000 gallons of diesel fuel and lubricants were spilled from the Nathan E. Stewart into the water. The barge was disconnected from the tug shortly after the accident. The Nathan E. Stewart remained partially submerged for roughly one month.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause of the grounding was the second mate falling asleep while on watch.
Kirby made changes following this incident that include an audible alarm when a navigator fails to acknowledge a visual warning, new policies for promoting crew members, improvements in its mariner licensing and credential verification process and a new fatigue awareness and recognition campaign.
The spill affected an especially productive area for fisheries that feed the Heiltsuk Nation and support its local economy. Its clam fishery, for instance, has remained closed since the spill.
“We are an island far from any city,” Slett said in a written version of the victim impact statement she presented Tuesday in Provincial Court. “We rely on our marine resources to feed us, to nourish us and keep us healthy.” to isolate themselves in
The Heiltsuk Nation preparation for traditional filed a civil lawsuit against ceremonies.
Kirby in October 2018 seeking This isolation included compensation for commercial living alone for days, clam harvesting weeks or months. A major losses, communal food part of this process was purification harvesting losses and cultural from bathing in losses. For an example the ocean and drinking of cultural losses, William small portions of salt water, Housty, whose Heiltsuk said Housty, a member Nation name is Dúqva of the Heiltsuk Hemas (hereditary ísl a, explained how chiefs) council. people in the Heiltsuk Na- This council consists of tion used the affected area chiefs who have their titles passed down by lineage.
“It was the belief that the salt water would purify the body and infuse all of the small particles of life that we can’t see with the naked eye, into the body of those who drank it,” Housty said in a written version of his victim impact statement. “How can this part of our ceremonies and cultures continue in this place when our people would have to bath and drink diesel-infested water? There are limited places in our territory where our people would go for these sorts of preparations, so one can’t simply say, ‘Go somewhere else.’”
Restoration work
The Heiltsuk Nation is also challenging Canadian law that only allows compensation for what it calls “pollution damage.” This standard does not cover the Heiltsuk Nation’s seafood harvesting and cultural losses.
The civil lawsuit could be in the court for years, and in the meantime, the Heiltsuk Nation is working to restore clamming areas and build a new trout hatchery to help boost food security and the local economy.
“We are the stewards of our territory, and we’ve taken care of it,” Slett told the Chronicle. “And in taking care of it, it has taken care of us.”