Few subjects will bring the fighting spirit out of a British Columbian quite like the pipeline that is supposed to connect the Alberta tar sands to a processing location in Burnaby, BC. The advertising and PR efforts would have the public believe that everything is rosy and it will mean jobs with zero risk! A little effort into the statistics and history regarding oils spills not only from the tankers that would be coming to Burrard inlet but also on pipeline spills paints a very different image. Typically the only spills that the public is actually made aware of are the particularly large ones. In the official statistics for tanker spills the smallest size where they start measuring is 7 tonnes, between the years 2010 - 2013 there was a total of 20 spills measuring between 7 - 700 tonnes and 8 greater than 700 tonnes. The environmental impact of many spills is hard to measure. The most disturbing aspect of those numbers is that we don’t know how many spills occurred under 7 tonnes. The long range effects go far beyond a vague notion of pollution. The oil spills affect fish populations which in turn goes through the entire food chain. Depleted fish populations affects us economically, fewer fish to catch means fewer jobs. Then we have a much more direct aspects when the oil reaches the shore, it visibly harms the shoreline ecosystem. The pipeline statistics are no less alarming. When pipeline spills occur the damage cannot be hidden under the waves, it is viscerally in front of us. The oil will seep into the ground, going into groundwater supplies, destroying the soil so no crops can be grown. Poisoning our very homes, forcing residents to move or die slow, diseased deaths. This does not even begin to touch on the ethics aspect. The land they wish to go through traditionally belongs to native tribes and is also a nature preserve. The companies and politicians are doing their level best to ignore dissenting opinions on the pipelines, attempting through PR efforts to make the general public believe that everyone else wants the pipeline. Despite the fact that the oil companies are 100% liable for all costs regardless of what caused the spill in Canada, the long term impact on local ecology cannot be remedied with money. Below are linked many resources for further reading. Pipeline map https://wildernesscommittee.org/sites/all/files/KMpipeline_Fraser_watershed_Map.pdf Tar sands industry faces existential $246 billion loss Gregory McGann 27th November 2014 theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/2650530/tar_sands_industry_faces_existential_246_billion_loss.html Stephen Harper’s government withholds details of $16-million PR campaign for oil industry Mike De Souza Published: May 22, 2013 o.canada/technology/environment/stephen-harpers-government-withholds-details-of-16-million-pr-for-oil-industry Pipeline spills 60,000 litres of crude oil into muskeg in northern Alberta Published on Sun Nov 30 2014 thestar/news/canada/2014/11/30/pipeline_spills_60000_litres_of_crude_oil_into_muskeg_in_northern_alberta.html Open Data: Alberta oil spills 1975-2013 By Leslie Young June 7, 2013 globalnews.ca/news/622513/open-data-alberta-oil-spills-1975-2013/ Enbridge spill risk more than 90%, SFU report says May 02, 2013 cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/enbridge-spill-risk-more-than-90-sfu-report-says-1.1362489 The History of Oil Pipeline Spills in Alberta, 2006-2012 June 12, 2012 activehistory.ca/2012/06/the-history-of-oil-pipeline-spills-in-alberta-2006-2012/ Average 250 Pipeline Accidents Each Year, Billions Spent on Property Damage Fri, 2013-04-05 desmog.ca/2013/04/05/average-250-pipeline-accidents-each-year-billions-spent-property-damage Oil tanker spill statistics 2013 itopf/fileadmin/data/Documents/Company_Lit/OilSpillstats_2013.pdf Accidental discharges of oil oils.gpa.unep.org/facts/oilspills.htm Probability of oil spills from tankers in Canadian waters slross/outgoing/Canadian%20Coast%20Guard%20Tanker%20Spill%20Risk%20Study.pdf Analysis of oil spill trends in the United States and Worldwide environmental-research/publications/pdf/spill_costs/paper4.pdf How Does the BP Oil Spill Impact Wildlife and Habitat? nwf.org/what-we-do/protect-habitat/gulf-restoration/oil-spill/effects-on-wildlife.aspx 7 Long-Term Effects Of The Gulf Oil Spill huffingtonpost/2010/05/10/7-long-term-effects-of-th_n_562947.html Environmental Effects of Oil Spills itopf/knowledge-resources/documents-guides/environmental-effects/ Environmental impact of oil spills csiro.au/Outcomes/Oceans/Hot-ocean-topics/Environmental-impact-of-oil-spills.aspx 8 Long Term Economic and Environmental Effects of the Gulf Oil Spill oilprice/The-Environment/Oil-Spills/8-Long-Term-Economic-And-Environmental-Effects-Of-The-Gulf-Oil-Spill.html Oil Spills: Severity and Consequences to Our Ecosystem dujs.dartmouth.edu/winter-2012/oil-spills-severity-and-consequences-to-our-ecosystem#.VH0uN1WJOuY
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 07:58:19 +0000
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