UPI en Español  |   UPI Asia  |   About UPI  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Oil jitters shake Canada's west coast

|
 
Published: May 7, 2012 at 8:52 AM

VICTORIA, British Columbia, May 7 (UPI) -- The Canadian government needs to ensure there are adequate mechanisms set up along the country's west coast amid an expected oil boom, leaders said.

Energy companies Enbridge and Kinder Morgan are among those seeking to build pipelines to get oil from Alberta province to Asian markets.

Sheila Malcolmson, head of British Columbia's land-use planning agency Islands Trust, told The Victoria (B.C.) Times Colonist that the federal government claims success if 10 to 15 percent of oil is recovered from a spill.

"Then, the other area of concern is, when there's a spill, what is the capacity for cleaning it up? The more we learn about that, the more worried we are," she said.

Crude oil from Alberta, dubbed tar sands, sinks in water because it's heavier than conventional oil. This makes spills into major bodies of water particularly difficult to address.

A federal report in 2010, meanwhile, found the Canadian Coast Guard might not be ready for a major maritime oil disaster. Dan Bate, a Coast Guard spokesman, said the report focused on administrative issues, however, and not response capability.

British Columbia's provincial Environment Minister Terry Lake was quoted as saying that authorities were specifically investigating Enbridge's plans for the Northern Gateway pipeline.

"With increased traffic, and especially with tankers, obviously, the level of response capability has to increase," he said.

Recommended Stories
© 2012 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
'Star Trek Into Darkness' screening NBC upfronts Met Ball 2013
'Great Gatsby' premieres in New York Spire raised on top of One WTC 2013: Celebrity break ups and divorces
Additional Energy Resources Stories
1 of 16
Flags-In Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery
View Caption
Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Roskos with the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, "The Old Guard," participates in the annual Flags-In ceremony, May 23, 2013, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Soldiers place American flags in front of more than 260,000 gravestones in the cemetery in honor of Memorial Day. UPI/Kevin Dietsch
fark
Nine-year-old girl asks McDonald's CEO why he forces kids to eat at McDonald's. Oh, and her mother...
Powerful earthquake strikes eastern Russia, rousing Sarah Palin from her slumber
Pro tip: If you are holding your accountant hostage in a warehouse in Queens, you should probably...
Fracking for Natural Gas or German Beer -choose only one
Rubbing Alcohol sold as Scotch in New Jersey. That's the joke
Little girl's police officer father gets shot and killed in the line of duty, days before her kindergarten...