[DrCaleb]

I've posted this before, but it bears repeating (not a full list, but a relevant one):

$1:

Federal programs and research facilities that have been shut down or had their funding reduced

Environmental Protection Operations
Action Plan on Clean Water
Environmental Effects Monitoring Program
Ocean Contaminants & Marine Toxicology Program
Kitsilano Coast Guard Station
Conservation and Protection Office (Clearwater, BC)
Conservation and Protection Office (Comox, BC)
Conservation and Protection Office (Hazelton, BC)
Conservation and Protection Office (Quesnel, BC)
Conservation and Protection Office (Pender Harbour, BC)
Oil Spill Counter-Measures Team
Water Pollution Research Lab (Sidney, BC)
Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Aquatic and Crop Resource Development
Environmental Effects Monitoring program
Environmental Emergencies Program
Laboratory for the Analysis of Natural and Synthetic Environmental Toxicants

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/blog/federal-pr ... -or-had-th

[Strutz]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

andyt andyt:

Wow, they couldn't have figured that out beforehand?

Well, you can cut emergency preparedness and response and nobody cares. Until there's an emergency.

Yeah, no kidding. Just watch them analyze this event then decide to establish a service they axed to begin with, and then make a big deal out of how well-prepared we'll be for next time this scenario happens.

[Jabberwalker]

So, have they seized that tub until they cough up for the clean-up?

[andyt]

Strutz Strutz:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

andyt andyt:

Wow, they couldn't have figured that out beforehand?

Well, you can cut emergency preparedness and response and nobody cares. Until there's an emergency.

Yeah, no kidding. Just watch them analyze this event then decide to establish a service they axed to begin with, and then make a big deal out of how well-prepared we'll be for next time this scenario happens.

Nope. James Moore whinged about the finger pointing (by the city and province at the feds), praised the response as world class, and said they wouldn't change a thing. Hard to find the money for re-establishing a service when you've bribed the upper middle class with tax rebates and want to balance the budget.

[Freakinoldguy]

Since no one can identify the type of fuel oil and where it's coming it'd be my guess that since they boomed the MARATHASSA they're going to try and lay the blame on her rather than actually spending the time and money searching for the cause be it her or not.

But, apparently the Seafarers International is now psychic and has figured out a way to prevent disasters like this which have no proven cause yet, from happening again.

$1:

The Seafarers' International Union of Canada (SIU), in conjunction with the Canadian Maritime & Supply Chain Coalition (CMSCC), representing the majority of Seafarers & Maritime Logistics Unions across Canada, is calling on the Government of Canada to reverse the Maritime provisions outlined in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). They are calling on the Canadian Government to strengthen Canada's Cabotage laws in order prevent another environmental catastrophe like the oil spill in Vancouver this week.

Within CETA's Maritime provisions, exploited and overworked foreign crew, unfamiliar with Canada's fragile ecosystem, would be allowed to operate between two Canadian Ports, trade previously reserved for Canadian flagged and crewed vessels. This week's spill was from the vessel MARATHASSA, a bulk carrier sailing under the Cyprus flag with foreign crew manning the vessel. Precisely the kind of vessel CETA would allow into trade in Canada permanently.

"The SIU of Canada is outraged that the Conservative Government is risking the St. Lawrence River's and Great Lakes' fragile ecosystem in the name of trade," said James Given, President, Seafarers' International Union of Canada and Chair of the CMSCC. "The SIU has long advocated that it would only take one accident to cause irreversible damage to the environment, and what we see in Vancouver is a complete catastrophe to its scenic English Bay."

Foreign crews often lack the skills needed to operate in Canada's confined waterways and struggle to meet our rigid safety standards. "The Government of Canada is taking a huge chance with the pristine waters of the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes," continued Given. "Foreign vessels and crew have no vested interest in the protection of our waterways. They do not live or raise their families, nor do they rely on these waters exclusively like Canadian Seafarers do".

Thankfully they're the voice of reason have no hidden agenda and aren't trying to score any points or perks for their union from this disaster.

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1516159 ... en-avoided

Unfortunately this is just another group in a long line of groups that is using this disaster to score political points and hurt their opponents. So, if anyone you see on TV or in the news media tells you they're doing this "for the coast" take it with a grain of salt.

[andyt]

$1:

Transport Canada has confirmed the estimated 2,700 litres of oil was bunker fuel from the vessel M/V Marathassa, as had been suspected.

[Freakinoldguy]

Fair enough since they confirmed today but, I'll standby my claim that far to many people are making political hay with this spill and not enough are genuinely concerned about the environment because, to be honest this wasn't a major spill but, you'd think from the comments from the politicians and public officials that it was another second Exxon Valdez and English Bay/Vancouver is now going to be uninhabitable for the next 1000 years.

[andyt]

The people who don't seem concerned about the environment are the feds whose responsibility this is to deal with but don' want to pay the freight. Good luck trying to get Kinder Morgan to go ahead with the sort of lackadaisical, uncoordinated response we saw for this little test run.

[Alta_redneck]

14 barrels of oil sorry this whole thing is ridiculous.

[Jabberwalker]

Alta_redneck Alta_redneck:

14 barrels of oil sorry this whole thing is ridiculous.

Yes, but it's icky and it's Kitsilano.

[Freakinoldguy]

Alta_redneck Alta_redneck:

14 barrels of oil sorry this whole thing is ridiculous.

Ridiculous as it may be, the truth is that this has zero to do with the amount of oil spilled and everything to do with the fact that this incident has, now become the cause celebre for that group of truth twisting anti oil individuals to use against the building of pipelines or, the use of any Canadian Ports as terminals for the export of evil oil.

These people don't want to hear any silly facts like, originally the source of the contamination couldn't be positively identified or even what type of fuel it was that leaked. They only want to be able to use this accident to show that if one "ship" had a malfunction that led to a spill, all ships will have malfunctions that will lead to spills and since tankers carry more oil than other ships their spills must be larger and more devastating.

If you were to use this wildly imaginative form of projection in other aspects of life we could inaccurately surmise that if one person commits murder all people will commit murder or, if one anti oil advocate is arrested all anti oil advocates will be arrested, or if one person drives drunk all people will driver drunk.

Hell, the possibilities are as endless as they are ridiculous which, is what makes assumptions like this so untenable.

[Jabberwalker]

Hell, half the people on this forum have probably spilled more oil into the sea doing R.A.S.s.

[andyt]

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

These people don't want to hear any silly facts like, originally the source of the contamination couldn't be positively identified or even what type of fuel it was that leaked. They only want to be able to use this accident to show that if one "ship" had a malfunction that led to a spill, all ships will have malfunctions that will lead to spills and since tankers carry more oil than other ships their spills must be larger and more devastating.

What they can show is how slow the response was and how poor the communication. It doesn't matter if this was bubble bath, it's how it was responded too. If this had been a major oil leak and it took 6 hours for containment to begin, what a mess that would be.

Here's what happened:

At 5pm people phone in to report the spill

The Port of Vancouver sends out a little put put boat to have a look, they report back it's nothing.

They phone the Vancouver cops to ask if they've seen anything. The cops, being land based and all, say no, but is there anything the should be doing. Port Authority says no worries.

They finally get a plane in the air at 8pm - holy shit, Martha we got us an oil spill.

They finally mount a proper response 6 hours later

They don't call the city of Vancouver until then next morning, by which time some of the oil is washing up on our beaches, people are running in it, letting their dogs play in the water, etc.

They under report the spill until they have to admit it's twice as big as originally thought.

Port Authority, Coast Guard, Feds are conspicuous in their absence while the media is going crazy about wtf is going on here and what's being done about it.

James Moore says the response was world class and the feds plan to change nothing, instead whinges about the fingers pointed at the feds - how to reassure people that if there is a big spill we do have an effective system in place to deal with it.

[Zipperfish]

Alta_redneck Alta_redneck:

14 barrels of oil sorry this whole thing is ridiculous.

14 barrels of oil and the response was ridiculous. Leaves us wondering what happens when it's 14,000 bbls.

[Zipperfish]

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

Ridiculous as it may be, the truth is that this has zero to do with the amount of oil spilled and everything to do with the fact that this incident has, now become the cause celebre for that group of truth twisting anti oil individuals to use against the building of pipelines or, the use of any Canadian Ports as terminals for the export of evil oil.

These people don't want to hear any silly facts like, originally the source of the contamination couldn't be positively identified or even what type of fuel it was that leaked. They only want to be able to use this accident to show that if one "ship" had a malfunction that led to a spill, all ships will have malfunctions that will lead to spills and since tankers carry more oil than other ships their spills must be larger and more devastating.

If you were to use this wildly imaginative form of projection in other aspects of life we could inaccurately surmise that if one person commits murder all people will commit murder or, if one anti oil advocate is arrested all anti oil advocates will be arrested, or if one person drives drunk all people will driver drunk.

Hell, the possibilities are as endless as they are ridiculous which, is what makes assumptions like this so untenable.

That's pretty much the Conservative point of view wrapped up right there. And it's the reason you'll never see the pipelines in BC built under this government.