The bunker fuel spill in English Bay has nothing to do with Kinder Morgan, although I suspect this will heighten concern about tankers in local waters.
This morning, I spoke briefly with Lisa Clement at Trans Mountain and Michael Lowry at Western Canada Marine Response Corporation, the company that handles spills on the west coast.
Clement said the spill had nothing to do with Kinder Morgan, and that media have been calling asking.
“It has nothing to do with us,” she said. “It’s not a vessel related to our operations. From my understanding, it’s a bulk carrier, and it’s fuel of some kind.”
Lowry is at Port Metro Vancouver now, and they’re putting together some kind of joint press release, so more details should be out soon, but here’s what I learned from Lowry:
The ship that’s lost fuel is a bulk carrier of some kind.
WCMRC has been on the scene, skimming and booming since last night.
The oil is coming from a vessel anchored in English Bay.
It’s bunker fuel, which is considered toxic.
“It’s on oil product, so it’s considered toxic,” Lowry said. “It’s a bulk carrier, it’s not an oil tanker.”
Lowry couldn’t confirm what the ship is carrying or how big the spill is.
He also couldn't say whose ship it is.
“We’ve boomed off that vessel and we’re skimming outside of that vessel,” he said, adding they’re planning to fly over the spill to estimate the size.
Sure, Kinder Morgan has nothing to do with the spill, but this will make things a lot harder for the pipeline expansion plan. This is going to galvanize people against increased tanker traffic, now that they've seen firsthand what oil can do to their beaches. It's literally washing up on the shore at Denman and Davie.
You can see from the photos, how big it is. Check out some of the Tweets below. If you want to follow the Twitter convo, it's #VanOilSpill.
