The bad seeds planted under the Harper Administration in Canada continue to sprout. Once again we see that a Canadian Government risk assessment was far too conservative (lets say they left out a lot) in not assessing the true costs of allowing expansion of oil overseas through the Strait. I’m not clear on whether this assessed the United States costs, as well.
Why should we trade off the possible loss, through a one time event like an Exxon Valdez tanker mistake? Worth remembering is that the mistake was due to human error from a drunk captain, and *may* have been averted by tanker escort and local pilots, which Washington State put in place and has used successfully since that disaster. Canada does no such thing, and relies on the best intentions of industry, which has rarely paid for the actual cost to the public for their errors.
The track record of the British Columbia environmental protection agencies is dismal, especially under Christie Clark, as can be seen in the lack of any real followup after the disastrous tail pond collapse of Mount Polley. It still ranks as the fifth worse tailing pond collapse of all time. So no, I don’t trust the Christie Clark government to do the right thing at all, when it comes to the environment. Especially when it means protecting our joint assets in the Strait. In a year or two she’ll be out of office and working for business concerns again. She just doesn’t care folks.
Environmental and risk assessments for projects that would increase tanker traffic in southwestern B.C. fail to consider billions of dollars in potential social, economic and environmental impacts, according to a new report on the region by the Raincoast Conservation Foundation. The environmental assessments required by senior governments are much too narrow and fail to consider the broader impacts of marine traffic on the ecological health of the region, which includes the Strait of Georgia, Juan de Fuca Strait and Puget Sound, argue the authors of the 108-page report Our Threatened Coast. The Salish Sea’s 7,000 kilometres of intricate coastline support ecosystem services from tourism and recreation to flood protection, climate regulation and fish habitat worth tens of billions of dollars, according to studies cited by the authors. Randy Shore reports. (Vancouver Sun)
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/report+adds+billions+cost+spill+south+coast/11663656/story.html
Filed under: Around the Salish Sea, Environmental Protection | Tagged: Environmental Protection |
