Tanker moratorium high on the agenda of discussion session

They probably have wrapped up the presentations for the night, as representatives of West Coast Environmental Law held an information session Wednesday over the topic of opposing oil tanker traffic along the North Coast.

The discussion session was scheduled for 7 pm tonight at Fishermen’s Hall and featured a number of scheduled participants with some background in oil and gas industrialization in their communities.

The Daily News had provided a preview of the plans for the night in Tuesday’s paper.


Existence of tanker moratorium subject of session
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Page one

An organization opposing oil tanker traffic in Hecate Strait will be making its case in Prince Rupert on Wednesday evening.

Representatives from West Coast Environmental Law will be speaking at Fishermen's Hall at 7 p.m., providing an overview and leading a discussion of the North Coast oil tanker traffic moratorium, the laws and regulations in B.C. that govern it and the public's rights under the law.
Joining representatives from West Coast Environmental Law will be Rosemary Ahtuangaruak and Mae Masuleak from the Inuit community of Nuiqsut on Alaska's North Slope. They will share their experiences with oil and gas industrialization in their community.

The presentation is part of a tour that will take the speakers from Haida Gwaii to Kitimat, Terrace and Hartley Bay.

For the past several years, the federal government has been arguing there is no oil tanker traffic moratorium in the Hecate Strait, despite the government’s own review panel recommending a moratorium be kept in place.

Government has argued there is no written moratorium, but only a voluntary tanker exclusion zone that prevents U. S. oil tankers coming south from Alaska from traveling through the Hecate Strait.

The exclusion zone- which covers the entire B. C. coast – was adopted voluntarily by the Canadian and U. S. Coast Guards as well as the American Institute of Merchant Shipping in 1988 with the idea of keeping laden tankers west of the boundary in order to protect the marine environment and shoreline of B. C. should a tanker become disabled in transit. (On average there is one tanker entering the Juan de Fuca Strait every day, and conversely an empty tanker leaving the straits for Alaska.)

However, West Coast Environmental Law, among other organizations and politicians, has argued that the moratorium does exist, and cite a 2003 Natural Resources Canada statement as confirmation of the moratorium: “In 1972, the Government of Canada imposed a moratorium on crude oil tanker traffic through Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound due to concerns over the potential environmental impacts. The moratorium was subsequently extended to include oil and gas activities.”

They say that the federal government allowed a company to violate the 34-year old moratorium in the summer of 2006 when a tanker full of condensate was transported to the Methanex terminal in Kitimat.