Could an oil spill happen in Vancouver Harbour ?Yes. If you let it.MEDIA RELEASE: May 31, 2010 No Tanks! Re: Vancouver accountant completes Crude Oil in Burrard Inlet Risk Assessment 2010 The U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster could happen here. Each week, an average of two oil tankers carry Alberta crude oil through Vancouver Harbour, heading to China and other world oil markets. Each tanker carries 500,000 or 700,000 barrels of crude oil – up to 29-million gallons – risking an oil spill that could devastate Vancouver’s harbour economy, close fisheries, and spoil beaches. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled 266,000 barrels in Prince William Sound. Two years ago, Bill Gannon, Greenpeace’s founding accountant, noticed oil tankers passing through Burrard Inlet. He inquired and discovered they carried Alberta crude oil from Westridge Terminal in Burnaby. “I did what accountants do,” said Gannon. “I prepared a risk assessment.” Gannon is releasing his “Crude Oil in Burrard Inlet Risk Assessment 2010 ” to the media today. See attached report and background summaries. The report can be downloaded from Gannon’s www.bcwaters.org website. Last year, concerned by the lack of oversight, Gannon wrote to the region’s mayors, his MLA, his MP, the B.C. Premier, and to the Gulf Islands Trustees. “In detail, I described the financial and environmental risks facing Vancouver from an oil spill,” said Gannon. “I was disappointed by the lack of response, so I began reaching out to other Vancouver citizens.” Gannon found support from fisherman Ron Fowler, a Canadian representative on the Pacific Salmon Commission and a director of the Area-F Trollers Association. “I’ve been fishing in BC since 1973,” said Fowler, “and I know practically every inch of this coastline. If we get an oil spill anywhere in these waters, it would wipe out every fishery we have, the shellfish, the salmon, the herring, not to mention the plankton that they feed on. An oil spill would move with the tides and devastate the intertidal zones.” Gannon and Fowler joined with Vancouver author and ecologist Rex Weyler to form “No Tanks!” a citizen organization that intends to stop crude oil tanker traffic in Burrard Inlet and on the B.C. coast. The No Tanks! group is planning a flotilla of boats in Burrard Inlet at the end of the fishing season on Sunday October 17, inviting everyone to join in a public display of resistance to crude oil tankers on BC's Coast. Check www.notanks.org for more information. =================== Contacts: No Tanks! website: www.notanks.org. Bill Gannon, CMA, 604-669-3300, home@billgannon.com Rex Weyler: 604, 737-4841, weyler@telus.net |