Kill the Tankers, Save the Whales

Kinder Morgan announced yesterday that it plans to increase its Trans Mountain
Pipeline capacity from the current 225,000 barrels per day ( bpd ) to 1.1 million bpd.
The Trans Mountain line runs from Edmonton to Burnaby, British Columbia, from
where most of the oil is shipped by another pipeline to the United States. However, at
the present time a small percentage of the oil that ends up in Burnaby is shipped out by
tanker, at the rate of about one tanker shipment per month.

This staggered expansion project will see capacity increase to 300,000 bpd by 2008,
and to 400,000 the following year, and eventually to over one million bpd. How much of
this capacity will end up being shipped through Georgia Strait, Boundary Pass, Haro
Strait and the Straight of Juan de Fuca is unknown. Nevertheless, the tanker component
of the expansion project should definitely form part of the proposed review of the
project by the National Energy Board ( NEB ), which is expected to commence in August
of this year, if for no other reason than the fact that this tanker route runs right through
the critical habitat area for the southern resident killer whales. These orcas are an
officially-listed endangered species in both Canada and the United States. It is generally
recognised that a major oil spill could have catastrophic impacts on the southern
residents, potentially wiping out the entire southern resident population, which
currently consists of approximately 90 individuals in three pods - J, K and L. The 1989
Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound, it will be recalled, essentially
decimated a local pod of killer whales, to the point where their eventual extinction is a
virtual certainty.

BCers should rise up and protest this massive expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline
for its potential impact on the health of the local marine environment, popularly
referred to as the Salish Sea. Canadian controls over tanker movements in this area are
far less stringent than those of our American counterparts for Puget Sound and the
Straight of Juan de Fuca. Our Yankee cousins, for instance, impose limits on the size of
tankers in the region, and have requirements for tug escort over certain portions of the
route. Canada has no such restrictions at present.

A stark choice may face Canadians - do we want to protect the orca whales, an iconic
symbol of the Pacific Northwest, or do we want to develop the southern mainland as a
principal outlet for tar sands oil on the west coast? Which do we prefer? Because to
think that we can have both, especially when the orcas are already subject to a wide
variety of stressors, including noise pollution, deterioration of habitat, scarcity of food
supply and hounding by whale watching vessels, is to dream in Technicolour.

So, get out there and demand that the NEB's public review of the Kinder Morgan
expansion include the tanker component. Also, demand that the BC and federal
governments institute a comprehensive planning process for the Salish Sea - one that
effectively recognises the crucial links between future development of the Lower
Mainland and marine environmental quality in the region. The Kinder Morgan
expansion, when coupled with other plans for upgrading of facilities, such as the
doubling of capacity at the Roberts Bank bulk terminal, force one to take a long, hard
look at the direction in which we are headed. We talk the talk about sustainable
development for our kids and grandkids, but with these and other development
proposals on the table, does this accurately reflect our vision for the area? Are these
plans, for instance, compatible with the goals and objectives of the draft Southern Strait
of Georgia National Marine Conservation Reserve initiative? Somehow I doubt it. We
must be prepared to walk the walk as well, to put our money where our mouth is, and to
stand up for what we believe in.

Kinder Morgan's proposals should also be looked at in terms of the cumulative effects
this and other maritime shipping proposals on the Lower Mainland could have on the
marine environment. For instance, in addition to the expansion of the Trans Mountain
terminal, a third berth is being added to the Deltaport terminal, and a new terminal is
being built at the Roberts Bank facility. It is definitely time to stand up and say "Enough
is enough!" We want the same kind of planning for the marine environment that we
have come to expect for terrestrial ecosystems. Better still, we want the terrestrial and
marine ecosystems to be viewed in an integrated manner, in recognition of their
fndamental interconnectedness."