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Burnaby council submitting emergency FCM resolution on oil spills

The City of Burnaby is rushing to submit a resolution regarding oil spill response to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities before its annual conference next month.

The City of Burnaby is rushing to submit a resolution regarding oil spill response to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities before its annual conference next month.

The resolution was proposed and approved after the conference’s submission date, so the city is submitting it as an emergency resolution. The resolution is also being submitted to the Union of B.C. Municipalities for its convention this September.

The proposed resolution stated; “Be it resolved that the Union of B.C. Municipalities and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities call upon the federal government to develop a comprehensive emergency response plan and procedure for oil spill-related emergencies that includes due recognition of and compensation for the role of local government emergency response services.”

The resolution was amended to include mention of the April 8 oil spill in English Bay, to give the federation context as to why the resolution came in after the January submission deadline, at the suggestion of Coun. Sav Dhaliwal.

Mayor Derek Corrigan agreed that such a distinction was important.

“As an old hand of getting things on the agenda at UBCM and FCM, I know that Coun. Dhaliwal’s advice is always well taken,” he said at Monday night’s council meeting.

Burnaby council has been highly critical of the response to the spill in English Bay, and has voiced concerns about what such a spill could do in Burnaby waters.

On April 8, the MV Marathassa leaked oil into English Bay. The following week, Burnaby council asked staff to compile a report on the incident – in particular about the length of time it took to respond – and what is in place for Burnaby spills.

Port Metro Vancouver’s operations centre was informed of a possible spill at 5 p.m. on April 8, according to the report. At 8 p.m., the Coast Guard called in Western Canada Marine Response Corporation. The clean-up crew arrived at 9:25 p.m., skimmed the water to locate and confirm the source of the leak, and placed a boom around the vessel at about 4 a.m. on April 9. The City of Vancouver was notified about the spill at about 5 a.m. that morning.

Transport Canada reported that an estimated 2,700 litres (about 17 barrels) of oil leaked into English Bay, and the response company said it recovered roughly four-fifths of that.