ever earec res

_Juan de Fuea

Page 6

THE REVIEW

Wednesday, December 10, 1975

by Joshua Perlmutter

As more and more ships
begin plying the waters of
Strait, the
possibility of a major oil spill
fouling peninsula beaches
grows. As the possibility
grows, the fears of those who
live here and in the paradise
that is the Gulf Islands,
grows....and not without
reason,

In the past, the reporting,
controlling and moping up of
even minor spills in British
Columbia coastal waters has
been a snarl of bureaucratic
red tape.

The result, far too often, has
been bickering over who is
responsible for what portion of
the job — and who is going to
pay for what — seemed to take
priority over actually cleaning
oil from beaches and the

. water.

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Now, according to an of-
ficial of the Provincial
Emergency Programme,
most of the red tape has been
eliminated, though Barney
Lane cautioned much was still
to be done.

PEP had just been given the
responsibility for co-
ordinating clean-up
procedures when a spill at Mill
Bay took place last May.

That spill — one which Lane
called a ‘‘mystery spill’? —
was already tarring nearly a
mile of beach with sludge
before it was reported to
PEP's offices....two days
after it had been spotted at
sea.

The difference today,
said, is remarkable:

Ten Minute Delay

When a spill occurred last
Wednesday near Bowen
Island, the report came into

he

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the PEP offices within 10
minutes.

The difference, in time, was
the result of litle more than
greater co-operation between
the Programme and_ the
federal Transport Ministry.

The difference, in time, was
the result of little more than
greater co-operation between
the Programme and _ the
federal Transport Ministry.

The difference in what
happened with the spill was
much more marked.

The problem has always
been that the federal depart-
ment is responsible for
cheicking reports of slicks at
sea, but the province is
responsible for any oil once it
hits the beaches.

Oil doesn’t always respect
the boundaries.

Because it doesn’t, Lane
said, the two branches have
had to learn to co-ordinate
their activities to a much
greater extent than they have
in the past.

“They don’t stop working
the minute it hits the beach,
and we don’t stand around
waiting for it,” Lane said. And
that’s a change.

Now, when a beach needs to
be cleaned, PEP co-ordinates
the activities of municipal
crews, private contractors
and volunteers.

In addition, it can call in
highways or forest depart-
ment crews for assistance.

Through Canada Man-
power, PEP can now hire even
more men, if they’re needed.

It is not unreasonable to
expect they would be.

DIRTY JOB

Lane described beach clean-

up as a “‘labor-intensive’’ job;

, translated from bureaucrates,
g that means it’s a lot of work.

In Burlington, Ontario,

4 Environment Canada has a
H research station which is
= busily testing new products
# and new ways of cleaning up
# oil spills.

When the centre sent

f someone to study the oil spill

that covered Japan’s Inland

™@ Sea, he reported back what
H was already suspected. To
# date, the best way known to

clean beaches is to have lots

H and lots of people, scooping,
# scraping and raking the
jy sludge.

That makes part of PEP’s

job easier.

Municipal works depart-
ments already have the tools
most needed: shovels, rakes,

7 spades and hoes.

Finding large quantities of
peat moss — still the most
“sponge’’ = for
cleaning up spills — can be a
bit harder.

Large municipalities, such
as Victoria, usually have large
amounts of moss on hand,
some or all ¢£ which could no
doubt be borrowed if a spill hit
Saanichton Bay or Sidney.

Fancier tools — slick lickers
and booms, for example — can
be had from federal depart-
ments and through co-ops set
up throughout the province by
the British Columbia

Petroleum Association. '

In Victoria — again *the
material and tools ULD BE
AVAILABLE FOR A LOCAL
SPILL — the association has
one of its largest stores of

supplies, including booms,
rakes, shovels and ab-
sorbents.

WHO PAYS?

Cleaning up the mess is now
the first requisite — but what
happens afterwards still
remains somewhat of a
muddle, Lane said.

The biggest problemn, of
course, is who pays?

Theoretically, the polluter
does.

It happens, sometimes, that

- they simply can’t don’t have

the money to pay, would go
bankrupt if thev tried.

More often, a spill is a. @.

“mystery spill’’ — who caused
it simply isn’t known.

If the source is known, the
municipality or province can
sue to recover costs, or at
least a portion of them.

But ifthe polluter can’t pay,
or isn’t known, the red tape
begins to mount.

There are the Canada
Shipping Act, the Maritime
Pollution Claims Fund and
any number of other depart-
ments, bureaus and agencies
to be dealt with.

By levying a special tax on
all oil shipped into, out of, or
through, Canada
government has built up a $35
million fund (the Maritime
Pollution Claims Fund) to pay
for oil spill clean up.

CHANGES WANTED

The fund is governed by the

Shipping Act, now. being

reviewed. PEP is pushing for :

at least five major changes,
Lane said:

The Act allows for fund
monies to be used to cover
“reasonably incurred” clean-

up costs.

- That, Lane said, is too
broad.

If. a private contractor is
asked to provide five
bulldozers and it later

develops that only three are
needed, because the spill is not
as bad as had been feared,
would the entire cost of five be
deemed ‘“‘reasonable’’? Lane
asked.

The question needs to be
answered, more definite
limits set, because there is too
great a danger that only —
using the same example —
three bulldozers would be
ordered....and five might be
needed.

Under present law, no clean
up operations for which the
government is to help pay can
start until permission is
received from the governor-
general,

That takes time and could
make some municipalities
reluctant to start operations
quickly, for fear their costs
would not be covered by the
fund,

As it now stands, the
municipality, or the province,
must prove the spill came
from a ship.

PEP wants the onus shifted,

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Major Oil Spill Now An Acute Danger To Peninsula Beaches

for the federal government to
have to prove the spill didn’t
come from a ship before it
could refuse payment.

Imporbity ' in the waters
around southern Vancouver
Island, the law now says that
only spills which originate in
Canadian waters will be paid
for.

With the convoluted, twisting
international border less than
half a mile away from the
Island’s coast in some places,
that could spell real trouble.

PEP, obviously, wants the
fund to cover any and all spills
which end up in Canada,
regardless of where they
originate.

The offending ship must be

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carrying more than 1,000 tons
of oil at the time of the spill, a
provision aimed at controlling
tankers, but which ignores the
possibility of serious spills
from smaller vessels.

The tugs which ply the
waters of Juan de Fuca Strait
have capacities of only about
three tons, Lane said.

But those three tons could
“make a fair mess” if they
were spilled.

British Columbia’s worst oil
spill to date, from a_ ship
collision in Vancouver Har-
bour in 1973, involved only 204
tons of oil, he pointed out.

The 1,000-ton restriction,
from PEP’s point of view,

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PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS ACT

RE: MARKING OF BALLOTS

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Election December 11, 1975

Under Section 101 (1) of the Provincial Elections Act,
all ballots must be marked with a black lead pencil. A black lead
pencil is provided in each polling-booth,
Remember: To ensure that your vote is valid, please mark your

ballot with the black lead pencil provided.

@ Polling stations will be open throughout the province from
8 am. to 8 pm. Pacific Standard Time.

@ In areas on Mountain Standard Time, polling stations will be
open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

ELECTION/75
BRITISH COLUMBIA

K. L. Morton, Chief Electoral Officer,
2735 Cambie Street, Vancouver, B.C,

ee ee