As I'm sure you know by now, I never believed what Cons like James Moore and Greg Rickford had to say about that oil spill in Vancouver's English Bay.
Especially when they and the Harper Coast Guard said that only about 3,000 litres of toxic bunker had leaked out of that freighter, and that all but six litres had been recovered.
And sure enough it turns out that estimate was too CONservative.
Officials in charge of cleaning up a bunker fuel spill in Vancouver’s English Bay now say the estimate of what leaked from a grain carrier was a conservative figure.
Owen Rusticus with Environment Canada says the 2,700-litre spill estimate wasn’t based on gauges, but was gathered using sensors on the thickness of the oil in combination with the size of the spill on the water.
Nor do I believe this either.
Coast Guard commissioner Jody Thomas says 80 per cent of that estimated spill had been cleaned up by the first day and what’s left is “a negligible amount.”
Not when they don't yet know how much oil is under the water. Not when my friends in Vancouver tell me the gooey black stuff can be found coating rocks all over the shore line.
As this video clearly demonstrates...
And not when most sane people in BC know that what happened was just a preview of the spill from hell.
Vancouver just got a small whiff of what a sevenfold increase in tanker traffic could mean for a place aspiring to be the world's greenest city.
And that while a bunker fuel spill is bad, a bitumen spill would be catastrophic.
A major difference is that bunker fuel floats, and bitumen typically doesn't. A relatively small spill of diluted bitumen from an Enbridge pipeline into the Kalamazoo River in 2010 proved to be one of the most expensive inland clean up efforts in American history.
Why? Because conventional recovery equipment designed for floating oil proved useless in recovering the thick bitumen that quickly sank once the toxic “diluent” began off-gassing in surrounding area.
And the good news is they will hold this against the Cons in the next election.
It will be a factor in many of what are, or were expected to be close races in the Lower Mainland.
And in a close election.
It will help sink them...
Update: Harper government releases its new spill response.
Hmmm...how about we wipe THEM instead...
Please click here to recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers.
Its olive oil. Plan A increase tanker traffic a million times, plan B shut down all the coast guard posts in the area, because they might enforce the law.
ReplyDeletehi Steve...yes compared to what might happen it is almost like spilling olive oil. Except that with the rocky shoreline it will also take ages to clean up. As I've said before, a nation with three oceans needs a strong coast guard, and anything less is insanity....
DeleteA conservative or the Conservatives estimate? Either way it's bullshit. Only in the fairy land world of the Cons, they cut cut cut departments and, wait for it, say that services will improve. But wait, there's more, a little sprinkle of fairy dust and poof, where there was once 10 is now 5 but they will do the work of 15. Unless of course it's the PMO which has bloated to grossly obese proportions. When it serves Stevie Slick, spare no expense. Anyone or anything else must do more with less but in the real world, the bunker fuel spill's delayed cleanup is the perfect example of what happens by trying to do more with less.
ReplyDeleteJD
hi JD...you're right they will have 1,500 communications people working for them, but they can't spare any money to staff a small coast guard station. And it's the same thing with meat inspectors. They will talk about making our lives safer, while actually making them more dangerous. Cons are unfit to govern and we can't get rid of them soon enough...
DeleteThis isn't about Harper and the Canadian government. This is about censorship and avoiding any discussion whatsoever about stopping the twice weekly supertanker shipments thru Burrard Inlet to international markets. They been threatening our pristine coast since 2006 with a total of over 900 shipments, total of 38,880,000,000 gallons of destruction and not a word from Greenpeace, Rex Wyler, or all the BC ecology groups. Nothing.
ReplyDeleteEverybody talks about "pipelines" that aren't there, supertankers in Douglas channel that aren't there, twinning of Transmountain that's not there. Nobody ever ever talks about that deadly supertanker in Burrard Inlet right now! Nobody ever discusses stopping the next shipment.
Why not Montreal Simon? Even your link to the Tyee says "...a sevenfold increase..." Somebody, pinch me quick, why doesn't the Tyee talk about that supertanker endangering Burrard Inlet right now? Nothing, zero, zilch for 9 years.
volunteer groups have to pick and choose their battles. The tankers which are going through the harbour now, will not be stopped, that is the reality. What can be prevented is more of the stuff going. So you pick your battles. there are limited resources for these fights.
DeleteWe also have to deal with the reality of the world. Some oil is always going to need to be shipped, if only for our own use. We need to ensure it goes out as safely as possible. That isn't happening.
Steve and his con clowns aren't worried about oil spills you see his church, The Christian and Missionary Alliance Church believes the second coming is "imminent". So if that jezus guy is coming back to work miracles, I'm sure Steve and his friends think jezus will take care of the oil spills.
Now for those of us who don't believe in the "second coming", imminent or not, the oil in English bay scares the shit out of us. One of these days it is going to be covered in oil/tar and them that has will just exit stage right, leaving the rest of the population to deal with it. Steve doesn't live here. 'sparkle queen' premier, can move, so can the rest of their friends, but the rest of us are stuck with the junk. that is why politicians don't care, they can move.
Now some of the Communist Chinese investors may care, so that may change a few things, but until that happens Steve and "sparkle Queen" won't be worrying or doing much about anything. That guy from Communist China who just paid $51Million for a house in Point Grey, now he might be a tad unhappy if that bay turns into an oil lagoon.
The Dogwood Initiative is a particularly nasty group of traitors to the Canadian people. Not once have I seen them talk about stopping the Vancouver tanker shipments. They were crafty about putting out a petition to permanently ban oil supertankers on BC';s north coast but the Bilderberg thugs in parliament called an election 3 days before the vote could be passed on the floor. Twice a week those supertanker shipments go right by the front doorstep of the Dogwood Initiative in Victoria and they just choose to ignore it.
DeleteThat's what we are talking about here. Traitors to the pristine Canadian ecology. Selling out and funded by offshore interests like George Soros.
The only hope for for the orcas and salmon is to completely and permanently stop those oil filled balloons before they destroy us all. And the Salish Sea will be destroyed if that next tanker coming out next breaks up.
That's just not acceptable any more.
Then why is this petition still on their website?
Deletehttp://dogwoodinitiative.org/no-tankers/stand-up-for-bc
http://dogwoodinitiative.org/no-tankers/petition
The petition says "I pledge to support a citizens' initiative to give British Columbians the chance to vote on plans to EXPAND pipelines and oil tanker traffic on our coast." (my capitalization for emphasis).
DeleteEXPAND! Why doesn't the petition say "No tankers"? Isn't the present 80 million gallons per week a threat? Won't the tankers coming out of Vancouver this week possibly destroy our pristine coast in the next few days?
All the ecology groups and protestors in BC are saying "stop the EXPANSION" and nobody is saying stop the tankers that are there now. That is because the protests are being controlled and manipulated by the oil cartel themselves.
I find that mind control of the masses not only bizarre but freaky. How can it be OK to allow present shipments but it's not OK to expand the number of those shipments? How can it be that a supertanker coming down Douglas channel in the future is more dangerous than each of the 900 shipments that have already occurred in Lotus Land?
Kinder Morgan is a deadly threat right now. Today. In real time. Protests about future, non existant pipelines and supertankers are a waste of time and will accomplish nothing. We should put all our efforts into discussions about how to stop the twice weekly Chevron shipments immediately.
Furthermore, if smart Canadians see the real problem and put a stop to the shipments, the pipelines become a moot point, don't they?
hi anon 3:49...I don't live in BC so I am not familiar with all the threats you face. I only lived in Vancouver for six months while taking a course. But I found BC beautiful and I just want to support the people who live there who are trying to keep it beautiful...
DeleteHere's some more "pertinant" information for you Montreal Simon. No spin, red herrings, or useless rabbit holes.... just a fact we all need to act on if we want to make a difference.
ReplyDelete"Suncor sneaks tar sands tankers into St. Lawrence and Great Lakes"
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/making-waves/2014/10/suncor-sneaks-tar-sands-tankers-st-lawrence-and-great-lakes
hi anon...thanks for the link. Yes, the oil pimps are looking eastward and would do to us what they would do to the people in BC. And don't forget about the Lac Megantic tragedy which was the tragic result of relaxing safety regulations on the railways...
DeleteLac Megantic was the fault of the oil cartel, not the train crew members. The sleight-of-underhand lame-stream-media were so successful in laying blame on human error. I spent a whole career working with government "Regulations" and know what I speak of now.
ReplyDeleteRegulations do not prevent accidents. Regulations are not important unless the regulating body ENFORCES the regulation. There were many "Regulations" and laws which, if ENFORCED by inspectors, would have prevented the Deepwater Horizon disaster on the Gulf Coast. It is common for peeps to say "more regulations" when a disaster happens. The souless corporations like that. In reality, the federal governing body for offshore drilling rigs on the Gulf of Toxico was controlled by the oil cartel, just like all the conservation groups in BC are controlled by the oil cartel. In the end, BC waters will be fouled like the Gulf Coast.....and for the same root cause.
I am so sad for the citizens in Lac Megantic, many of who didn't get the benefit of a wake up warning and perished in the fire. Blaming the train workers for that disaster is such a crock.
The oil cartel controls the government. The oil cartel controls the media. The oil cartel controls the western hemisphere. The oil cartel stops all competition to their monopoly by murder and suppression. And the oil cartel controls all the protests and conservation groups in BC.
To accept their control as "thats the way it is" and to promote "nothing can be done about it" is to be a traitor to the good Canadian people....and to Gaia come to think of it.
Harper a.k.a. Bilderberg puppet has sent 200 Canadian troops to the Ukraine. Putin is pissed.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canadas-decision-to-send-troops-to-ukraine-deplorable-russia-says/article23969990/
Poking a bear isn't wise....at least not for my welfare. Our prime minister (with roots deep in Calgary, Canada's primary den of oil cartel sell-outs) has put us all at serious risk.....without even asking us.
Ya no shit Anon 5:53 PM I listen to "The Wind of Change" over and over cause it gives me hope.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RjJKxsamQ
Where the children of tomorrow feel the wind of change. This was a cold war era protest song and is still very potent enjoy....
Mogs Moglio
200 Climate Campaign Groups All Funded by a Single Source: The Rockefeller Brothers
ReplyDelete(List Includes Tides Canada.....the funders of all BC Ecology Groups)
http://fair-questions.com/post-4/
And now for Vancouvers Mayor
"Mayor Robertson & The Rockefeller Brothers"
http://fairquestions.typepad.com/rethink_campaigns/vancouver-mayor-gregor-robertson-and-nrdc.html
How very convenient for the oil cartel. They put their own mouthpiece into Vancouvers mayor position. The reason for that is that he will OBEY and never never never never talk about or let anyone else talk about those two Vancouver tar sands dirty oil shipments of 40,000,000 gallons each. Plenty enough to destroy the last pristine (non oil spill) populated ocean coast in the world.
Speak no evil! Gregor...speak no evil. Pretty slick huh? Or should I say about Vancouver.....Pretty oil slick huh?