It's not just coastal British Columbians who are fed up with being stonewalled by the federal government over the hazards of dilbit spills. So is the neighbouring state of Washington and they're demanding answers to the very same questions.
Washington's Department of Ecology wants the Canadian government to fix what it calls "deficiencies in critical areas'' of its spill response plan for a spur of the Trans Mountain pipeline that runs through the state.
...It wants to know more about how it would respond to a spill of heavy oils that may sink to the seafloor, how it would protect endangered killer whales, salmon and other natural resources from a spill, and the initial steps it would take after a spill is discovered.
Washington's Ecology Department says it received 14,000 public comments after a public review of the proposed response plan. The comments opposed the plan's ability to address a response to heavy oils that are difficult to clean up once spilled, as well as the lack of details in the plan on species at risk from potential spills, such as declining populations of southern resident killer whales, it says.
"We expect Canada to adhere to the high standards Washington has worked so hard to achieve that protect our environment, economy, and the health of our communities,'' says Dale Jensen, manager of the department's spill prevention, preparedness and response program.Good luck Washington. I hope the Liberal government won't be so quick to blow smoke up your backside, its usual tactic with British Columbia.
1 comment:
.. lots of good Environmental action comes out of Washington State, Oregon.. California etc. They get that 'territorial borders' are meaningless to species or oil slicks or radioactive water borne on ocean currents. They are cleaning up coastal rivers and culverts to let salmon pass upstream & getting results. Meanwhile I assume we are subsidizing foreign owned farmed salmon that are helping to kill off our Canadian wild salmon.
I wish we could just admit it that LNG and Dilbit are paramount.. and we could collect & melt down all our 25c coins with the caribou on them.. and start to admit that our wild species will have to get by.. on our postage stamps. Orca, Polar Bear, Herring, Sea Otter, Coastal Wolf, Wolverine, Eagle, Spirit Bear, Salmon, the Great Whales, Arctic Fox, Beluga.. Sayonara !
All we need is a sliding scale with projected dates for the actual final demise.. and toward the end of the scale, all the dates will be the same. That's how the 'cascade factor' or tipping point works.. when entire wild food chains collapse all at once.
FYI, Mound, my cousin out west knows every grizzly on his mountain and nearby valleys.. as do his fellow off the grid neighbors. With the loss of blackberries this summer.. fire, lack of rain.. some of the largest grizz any of them have ever seen are arriving to help with the fruit and veg harvest.. and glad to pillage the early & mid fall bee hive supers on the mountainsides.. Meanwhile, the elk are confused with their habitat burned off and little regrowth has had a chance to establish. This could be a wild and wooly winter out there with major disruption to wild habitat and food source.. the wolves, deer, bear.. ? Yes, it could be brutal..
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