At Monday night’s council meeting, Burnaby council expressed dismay and anger over the response to the oil spill in Vancouver earlier this month.
Things probably would’ve gone much the same if the spill happened in Burnaby waters instead, according to a city staff report presented at the meeting.
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 the length of time it took to respond – and what is in place for Burnaby spills.
The lead agency for a spill in Burnaby would be the Canadian Coast Guard, as it was in Vancouver, the staff report stated, with the city part of the “unified command.”
Coun. Paul McDonell expressed concerns about future incidences that may occur under less ideal conditions than the spill in Vancouver.
“If this is the type of thing you get when you have a perfect day,” he said, “this is a disgrace.”
McDonell was particularly critical about the length of time it took to respond to the spill, and the company in charge, which claimed its response was “phenomenal.”
“If this is their idea of world class, we’d better build a bloody big dam (around Westridge Marine Terminal),” he said. “This was a bloody disgrace.”
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.
Coun. Sav Dhaliwal spoke about the planned twinning of the Kinder Morgan pipeline and increased tanker traffic in Burrard Inlet.
“This is clearly a warning for all of us,” he said of the spill.
The staff report focused on potential spills at the Burnaby terminal site.
The lead agency responsible for any potential spills at the terminal would depend on whether or not the spill was contained on land or migrated or occurred in the water, the report clarified.
Legal responsibility for spills at the terminal would be dependent on whether the vessel or terminal caused the spill, the report added.
The staff report also provided information on the company that handles oil spills on B.C.’s West Coast, Western Canada Marine Response Corporation, a private company formed from an oil spill response cooperative. The current five shareholders include Transmountain Pipeline. The response company’s South Coast office is located at the former Shell Refinery site in Burnaby.
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.
