What Sideshow Steve Never Learned in Bible School

Harper, to the extent he thinks at all, thinks regular inspection of bitumen supertankers and a bit more aerial surveillance should put coastal British Columbians' concerns to rest.

Harper curiously doesn't know that the Hecate Strait is truly biblical.   The massive winds that tear at the place can actually part the waters, exposing the seabed.

Here's one account from The Golden Spruce:

"Under certain conditions, overfalls take the form of "blind rollers," which are large, nearly vertical waves that roll without breaking; not only are these waves virtually silent but, under poor light conditions they are also invisible - until you are inside them.  If one factors the prevailing deep-sea swell that in winter surges eastward through Dixon Entrance at heights of 30 to 60 feet [peak recorded 100 feet], and the fact that a large enough wave will expose the sea floor of Hecate Strait, the result is one of the most diabolically hostile environments that wind, sea and land are capable of conjuring up.

"Most sailors who survive storms do so because they orient themselves to the prevailing wind and waves, get into the flow, as horrendous as it may be, and ride it out.   But on a bad day in Hecate Strait, you can't get into the flow because there is no flow to be found, a 70-knot gust or an apartment building's worth of water can hit you from any direction.  There is no rhyme or reason; all around you the elements are at war with themselves."

This is true.  I know this to be true.  I have been caught in one of these storms, fortunately not the severest, but, even then, I felt certain I was a dead man. It's a sickening feeling knowing that there is no way to run for shore, to seek shelter, and you have just one option - to try to ride it out.   That takes a lot of power and a great deal of work at the wheel.   How would a heavily laden, lumbering supertanker fare in those conditions?  Is it really necessary to even ask?

Here's What We're Up Against

There are a number of differences between the grounded Royal Dutch Shell oil drilling platform ship, Kulluk, and the sort of supertankers the Chinese are planning to run into and out of Kitimat.   That said the Kulluk does provide a useful glimpse into what can go wrong in northern coastal waters and how hard it is to control when something like that happens.

The Kulluk was being towed to its new site when the tow cable parted.   Tug boats were right there but they couldn't get it back under tow and so it drifted onto the rocks.

Now it turns out the Kulluk, which still hasn't breached, will probably remain grounded (and grinding away) on the rocks 40-miles from Kodiak City until spring.

What's the holdup?   It's being blamed on the "fury of the north Pacific winter."

That's what it's like in the northern coastal waters shared by Alaska and British Columbia.   The conditions can be furious, and those conditions are so bad that tugs can't salvage ships and oil spill ships can do nothing.   Even the outfits Enbridge has lined up for its oil spill vessels freely admit they can operate only in calm waters and are designed and equipped to respond to spills of conventional crude oil, not bitumen.

And, yes, in case you're wondering.   That picture is of the Kulluk, snagged on the rocky bottom, in a remarkably calm moment, off the equally rocky Alaska shoreline awaiting its fate until spring.