Crude Awakening: What Are The Issues

Crude oil from the Alberta tar sands, one of the dirtiest sources of oil in the world, is being pumped to refineries in Burnaby, B.C., and is subsequently being pumped into supertankers at the Westridge port in Burnaby. The supertankers then depart from Burrard Inlet, around Stanley Park, into Georgia Strait, passing by the Gulf Islands and downtown Victoria into the Strait of Juan de Fuca to enter the Pacific Ocean.

The number of tankers loading at the Burnaby Westridge Terminal has gone from none in 2000 to over 100 in 2010. Kinder Morgan (one of the pipeline companies feeding BC dirty tar sands crude) is in the midst of expanding its pipeline to Burnaby from 260,000 to 300,000 barrels per day (equaling 180 tankers/year). Projected growth of 700 000 bpd (equaling 511 tankers/year).

The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989. The supertanker dumped 51.4 million litres of crude oil into the pristine water, poisoning the ecosystem of the sound and its wildlife. The damage has never been fully mitigated. It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters ever to occur in history.

The oil supertankers leaving burrard inlet are carrying 3 times more crude oil than that of the Exxon Valdez.

The Alberta tar sands have been having a rough time lately. The environmental and social impacts of the tar sands have been thrust under an international spotlight and active campaigns are running to shut them down (www.greenpeace.ca, www.oilsandstruth.org, http://ran.org/).

Canada exports the majority of its dirty crude to the United States, however, even the US is worried about the environmental implications of Canada’s dirty oil.

Bill Gannon

"The US Gulf of Mexico disaster demonstrates that the governance of the oil industry is tragically, unreliable. The citizens of Greater Vancouver and the Gulf Islands must face this issue and and demand legislation to ban shipment of crude oil through Burrard Inlet, NOW!."