Ignatieff promises B.C. oil-tanker-traffic moratorium
By SCOTT SIMPSON, Vancouver Sun
June 21, 2010
Federal Liberals would formalize a moratorium on crude oil tanker traffic on British Columbia's north coast waters, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff announced on Monday.
A moratorium on oil tanker traffic was first imposed for Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound by the Pierre Trudeau Liberal government in 1972 but it is no more than a formality at this point and would be bushed aside if a plan is approved to build a new pipeline from Alberta to the B.C. coast at Kitimat.
The National Energy Board is in the process of hearing an application from Enbridge Inc. to build a pipeline as well as a deep sea oil terminal at Kitimat where internationally bound tankers would be filled with crude oil from Alberta's oil sands.
Coastal and Interior first nations have indicated opposition to the project, and a recent Mustel poll found that 80 per cent of British Columbia residents support a ban on crude oil tanker traffic on the B.C. coast
Oil tankers have been moving through southern coastal waters for a half century, carrying oil from a Kinder Morgan pipeline terminal in Burnaby at Burrard Inlet without a major spill.
Kinder Morgan contends in letter to the NEB that their own plans for pipeline expansion to their Burnaby terminal render Enbridge's project superfluous.
Ignatieff, in Victoria to announce Liberal policies to “protect” oceans and coastal communities, noted that some petrochemical traffic already operates through Port of Kitimat but said his party would not allow that traffic to expand to the north.
The moratorium would be formalized either through regulation, or legislation, “or both,” the party aid in a policy statement released by Ignatieff.
Some environmental groups reported that Ignatieff, in response to questions from the media on Monday morning, agreed that the Liberal policy would make it impossible for Enbridge to proceed with its plans to foster growth of oil tanker traffic in support of its pipeline.
“The Liberal Party does not. . . support an increase in this traffic along the coastal waters of the Pacific North Coast, nor do we support crude oil tankers traversing these waters,” the policy stated.
“Fully opening B.C.'s coast to crude oil tankers creates the risk of a major spill, endangering wildlife and the livelihoods of dozens of communities who live in and around the coastline. To prevent an oil spill from ever occurring in the coastal waters of the ecologically sensitive Pacific north coast, a Liberal government would not allow an increase in tanker traffic in this region.”
ssimpson@vancouversun.com
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