http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/can-we-contain-oil-spills-the-answer-is-in-the-sheen-1.3855903
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Can we contain oil spills? The answer is in the sheen
Tugboat sinking off B.C.'s central coast last month serves as case study
on spill response
By Chris Brown, Chris Corday, CBC News
Posted: Nov 28, 2016 4:08 PM PT Last Updated: Nov 28, 2016 4:08 PM PT
If the Trudeau government approves the expansion of Kinder Morgan's
Trans Mountain pipeline, B.C.'s oil cleanup industry will be in line for
the biggest infusion of cash in its history.
Kinder Morgan will be forced to fund the majority of a $200-million
spill-response upgrade on the West Coast for new bases, equipment and
150 staff.
Harder to quantify is how much confidence people should have that crews
can actually remove oil from water if a major tanker spill occurs.
"It's clear that even the best available technology and most qualified
personnel can't effectively contain or mitigate a spill," said Jess
Housty, a Heiltsuk Nation council member in Bella Bella, B.C.
She's spent nearly the past two months helping co-ordinate the local
response to the sinking of an American tugboat, the Nathan E. Stewart,
off B.C.'s central coast.
"I shudder to think of the risk we'll face if we see an increase in
shipping due to new or expanded pipelines," she said.
The Trudeau government is expected to announce as early as Tuesday the
fate of three pipeline proposals, including Kinder Morgan's Trans
Mountain expansion. The pipeline would follow an existing route from the
Edmonton area and across B.C. to a terminus on Burrard Inlet in Metro
Vancouver.
It would triple Kinder Morgan's capacity to nearly 900,000 barrels per
day. It would also increase the number of tankers through Burrard Inlet
from one per week to one every day.
The National Energy Board previously approved the project with 157
conditions, but the federal cabinet ordered a further review.
Fuel spill frustrates responders
The decision comes as damage from fuel spills is top of mind for many in
B.C.'s coastal communities.
On Oct. 13, the Nathan E. Stewart ran aground and sank in the Seaforth
Channel with 200,000 litres of diesel fuel on board.
Half of the diesel was removed without leaking into the ocean, but tens
of thousands of litres escaped into the water and onto the beaches in
the ecologically sensitive Great Bear Rainforest.
Containment booms were often unable to cope with the rough ocean
conditions and broke, while skimmers and other mechanical efforts
struggled to corral and recapture the fuel.
"100 per cent recovery is never possible," said Mike Lowry of the
Western Canada Marine Response Corporation, or WCMRC, the
industry-funded company with legislated responsibility to clean up all
ocean spills in B.C.
But, he quickly adds, "...that doesn't mean a lesser recovery is somehow
inadequate or a failed response."
Five to 15 per cent recovery rate?
The industry's success rate on spill cleanup is open to wide interpretation.
One of the most frequently cited statistics, repeated in a 2013 report
for the federal government on spill readiness, is that even with optimal
conditions, often only five to 15 per cent of spilled oil is ever
recovered using booms and skimmers.
Lowry says the number is misleading.
"That's an average of offshore oil spills, you can't take that and apply
it to all spills," he said, because spills in harbours or close to shore
have far higher recovery rates.
Last year, for example, the grain carrier MV Marathassa released 2,800
litres of bunker oil into Vancouver's English Bay.
With near optimal conditions for responders — calm seas and WCMRC's main
base just minutes away — the cleanup company says it recovered 50 per
cent of the fuel.
"You need to look at where the spill happens and the kind of product,"
Lowry said.
He says evaporation, chemical dispersants and even burning are all now
scientifically accepted means of dealing with spills that don't involve
physically recovering oil from the water.
Public expectations 'seldom satisfied'
Marine spill consultant Gerald Graham, who's testified at National
Energy Board hearings on the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal, says
spill responders such as WCMRC have what amounts to a thankless task.
"It's about dealing with a crisis — perhaps even an environmental
catastrophe — where the public's expectations will seldom ever be
satisfied," he told CBC News.
WCMRC claims with the new capacity that would come with the Trans
Mountain expansion, it would be able to respond to a worst-case spill —
more than 10,000 tonnes — within a few hours anywhere on B.C.'s southern
shipping lanes.
It says it would be capable of cleaning more than 3,000 metres of
shoreline a day and skimming more than 840 tonnes of oil off the surface
every hour.
Yet, experience from past spills indicates weather and location often
have more to do with how much oil is recovered than personnel and equipment.
West Coast spills
One of the largest spills to hit Canadian waters occurred in 1988, when
U.S. oil barge the Nestucca dumped 5,500 barrels, or 874,000 litres, of
bunker C oil into Juan De Fuca Strait, off Vancouver Island.
In the rough ocean conditions, much of the oil sank below the surface,
making skimming impossible. None of the oil was recovered at sea.
A few months later, the spill was eclipsed by the Exxon Valdez disaster
off the coast of Alaska.
The super tanker dumped 40 million litres of crude oil into the waters
of Prince William Sound.
A $2-billion recovery operation recovered just eight to 15 per cent of
the oil.
'Impossible to contain'
The takeaway for environmentalist Ian McAllister, who lives on Denny
Island, just 25 minutes from the recent Bella Bella spill site, is that
the wisest choice is to simply not allow the ships that cause the worst
spills in the first place.
"It's just impossible to contain a spill once it happens," he said.
"It's watching helplessly and allowing Mother Nature to mitigate for
years to come."
These days, just three per cent of ships that call on the Port of
Vancouver are oil tankers.
But with the Trudeau government's stated desire to get Alberta oil to
Asia, B.C.'s spill response business awaits its big infusion.
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