Ottawa steps up efforts to improve oil spill response
The federal government plans to set up a new office in downtown Vancouver to better respond to oil spill risks in the harbour.
Office space for a new environmental response office will be set up in the HMCS Discovery at Coal Harbour, headquarters for the Canadian Coast Guard inshore rescue boat station.
A pollution response vessel will be docked at HMCS Discovery to respond to reports of pollution.
Additional measures include increasing the number of naval reservists at HMCS Discovery to support the inshore rescue boat operation, increasing the number of personnel who can be trained for search and rescue and adding another inflatable boat to the three already in operation.
The announcement Thursday follows widespread criticism of the coast guard’s response time to an April 8 spill involving 2,700 litres of bunker fuel dumped into the harbour, fouling wildlife and sullying the shores of English Bay, Stanley Park, North Vancouver, West Vancouver and Burrard Inlet.
It took six hours for the coast guard to arrive from Richmond and another seven hours for a private company it contracted to secure an oil-absorbing boom around the vessel. It churned up renewed debate over the federal government’s decision to close the Coast Guard station in Kitsilano two years ago.
The Coast Guard also contained a small diesel spill last month in False Creek near Granville Island, in which 300 metres of containment booms were set up in the water surrounding a portion of the marina at Fisherman’s Wharf to catch the fuel.
Retired CCG captain Tony Toxopeus, who once was stationed on the HMCS Discovery and is a strong proponent of reopening the Kitsilano Coast Guard station where he once worked as a coxswain, said the new federal measures are a “classic case of smoke and mirrors, spin doctoring and political bilge.”
He said the Discovery is woefully understaffed and poorly located on Deadman’s Island near Stanley Park. The majority of marine incident calls are to the west of Lions Gate Bridge on the other side of the park, adding response time especially in the summer when there are large ebb tides and northwesterly winds, he said.