Saturday, October 18, 2014

BREAKING: Russian Ship Threatens BC Coast Again



Well it looks as if Stephen Harper has jumped the gun again. For this morning he tweeted this:


After it looked like the Canadian Coast Guard had managed to avert disaster by towing a disabled Russian ship away from the B.C. coast.

Until the tow lines broke. 

A Russian cargo ship carrying hundreds of tons of fuel is once again adrift off the west coast of Haida Gwaii after a Canadian Coast Guard vessel lost three tow lines.

Two other vessels, the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Sir Wilfrid Laurier and U.S. Coast Guard cutter Spar, are standing by to provide assistance, but aren't properly equipped to secure and tow a large ship, James said.


Luckily it seems that the weather is now cooperating, and that an oceangoing tug might be able to secure another line. When it finally arrives.

But imagine if the ship in trouble was a giant supertanker loaded with oily bitumen, and the weather wasn't cooperating.

And what that disaster might look like...



And I think you'll agree that this incident is a really useful warning.

And that this is the message Stephen Harper needs to receive...



UPDATE: Late tonight another tow line was finally secured.

But it doesn't change a thing.

The risk is just too great. The pipeline must be scrapped.

And the oily dictator must be DEFEATED...

Please click here to recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers.

11 comments:

mizdarlin said...

Thanks for this Simon..and you are so right, everyone here is talking about it..and the media here in BC is full of non-stop ads for the dirty oil corps, talking so sweetly about how wonderful it's all gonna be...nope, couldn't have happened at a better time....

UU4077 said...

Harper: "No. The CCG will take care of it. Nothing to see here. Oh ... look ... Ebola's coming! Watch out for Ebola! We must prepare to defeat the Ebola!"

Anonymous said...

Rigging and working a tow at sea is a cast iron bitch - I can only give the crews a great big bravo zulu - speaking as one who has been there - if the northern gateway plans come to fruition, they had damn well better include having a skookum deep sea salvage tug facility on hand 24/7/365. Not that this broken down sailor knows anything about the perils of the dee pon the west coast - not being a 'trained economist'.

Simon said...

hi mizdarlin....As I believe I've mentioned before, I once had the opportunity to fly up the coast of BC in a small plane, on a glorious summer day, and the stunning beauty of it all took my breath away. To see it spoiled would be a crime against nature and a crime against Canada. And yes, this near miss couldn't come at a better time, to remind us how hollow are the promises of the Cons when it comes to tanker safety. Thank goodness for small miracles....

Simon said...

hi UU4077...yes, expect Ebola to be used to scare Canadians further, and along with the Great War on ISIS, distract us from the real problems of this country, and the even greater threat of climate change...

Simon said...

hi anon...yes, having grown up by the sea, I have the greatest respect for those who work on it. And all the crews deserve to be praised for their efforts. But they are lucky the weather improved, and that it wasn't a raging storm that went on for days. And yes, I don't know where that oceangoing tug came from but it clearly wasn't close enough...

Marmalade said...

Following Current Events these days is like trying to decide which toothbrush to buy!!!!! So Many Distractions!
So many choices!

Anonymous said...

And it ended up that a US tug had to come to the rescue. Doesn't say much for our services on the west coast in case of disasters.

Simon said...

hi Kathleen...yes the world is a bit of a blur these days isn't it. I'm almost afraid to check out the news in the morning, there are so many disasters on the move, it's enough to make me want to jump back into bed. ;)
But we'll take care of the Harper disaster, and then work on the others...

Simon said...

hi anon...Thanks for pointing that out. I hadn't noticed that little detail, which makes the situation even more scandalous. I saw some Enbridge flak on TV today claiming that a big tanker wouldn't have been sailing in that kind of weather, which only made me laugh. I've heard that story before, from the owners of ships now resting on the sea bottom. I also remember the hilarious story when Joe Oliver set up a photo-op in BC, but the tug that was supposed to be in the background couldn't make it after getting stuck somewhere. I always thought they didn't know what they were doing, but after that I knew for sure...

e.a.f. said...

mizdarlin is oh so correct, it looks like we are in full election mode out in B.C. for either the federal cons or the b.c. lieberals. The money which is being spent on those ads could most likely float a small nation or at least buy a lot of equipment for the war on Ebola. If you watched those commercials it would be reasonable to conclude there was no homelessness or unemployment in B.C. and the environment was lovely. Like no mine tailing pond dam breaking and destroying the environment and that the oceans weren't full of crap from Japan or the radiation hadn't hit the water. Just watch those ads and you'd become a believer. Can hardly wait for them to run them during election time

misdarlin, that sounds so like a B.C. politician of yo're, if the name were the other way round. do enjoy the comments.