English Bay Oil Spill. Outrage?

[@Felicity]

VANCOUVER - A fuel spill has spread over areas of Vancouver's English Bay, coating waters in an oily sheen.

The City of Vancouver said the spill was of bunker fuel and warned on social media that the fuel is toxic. It asked people not to touch it.

An emergency response team was called in Wednesday to deal with the spill in the downtown bay.

John Parker-Jervis of Port Metro Vancouver said the bunker fuel appears to have come from a bulk carrier vessel that carries grain.

He said there was a significant amount of fuel spreading around the boat and it was contained with a boom, although it is not the confirmed source of the spill.

He said the West Coast Marine Response Corporation had five boats on the water recovering fuel oil throughout the night "so there has been some amount of product on the water."

"Early in the evening the sheen was quite light and deemed not recoverable; however, as the evening progressed they did begin to find heavier concentrations," he said.

"I don't know if I would characterize it as a big spill but, you know, a significant operation to ensure cleaning it up."

He said it is not yet known how many litres of fuel has spilled into the ocean.

The coast guard, marine response teams, city officials and Transport Canada are co-ordinating efforts to recover the substance and pinpoint its source.

Parker-Jervis said the focus is now on minimizing environmental impacts and safety.

Video of spill

CBC

 

[escapefromstress]

 

[booblover]

an oil spill in Vancouver waters...never going to happen if old Crusty Clarke is in charge.......how come she (or moon Beam Roberts) hasn't spoken about this yet? of course she won't till she absolutely has to....

 

[escapefromstress]

Oil spill clean-up underway in English Bay, residents advised to avoid beaches with video

Crews are continuing to clean up an oil spill in English Bay as residents are being told to avoid touching the oily substance that’s now washing up on the shore.

The incident was reported at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday and an emergency response team was called in to deal with the spill. The City of Vancouver was not notified of the situation until about 6 a.m. by the Coast Guard. Five coast guard and marine response crews worked overnight on containing the oil and keeping the marine life safe.

The City of Vancouver is asking people not to touch the oil because it is toxic, and the Park Board is advising that people keep their dogs out of the water. Anyone who comes into contact with the oil is being told to wash their hands with clean water and soap. Despite the warning, many people were out roaming the beaches throughout the day.

More here: http://globalnews.ca/news/1929166/oil-spill-clean-up-underway-in-english-bay-residents-advised-to-avoid-beaches/

 

[NataliaBijoux]

I live right beside English Bay.
There was no one from the city cleaning up.. All they did was come down and hand out gloves and containers..
There were several baby crabs covered in oil.. That eventually died.
It's disgusting.

 

[@Felicity]

I guess I got there a bit late. There was no smell, no oil covered animals. There was no city crews just Global packing up to leave. One red plane was flying in circles. Idle No More was there banging their drums. I am sure that petition got some action today.

BTW; There was a tonne of people enjoying the sunshine on the beach today, it did not seem to deter anyone.

The countries that those damn cargo ships originate from do not have the same rules and regulations. Example: South Korean Ferry

 

[@Felicity]

80% retrieved??

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - The Coast Guard says the cleanup of the spill has followed protocol, despite the City of Vancouver not being notified for almost 13 hours.

It says 80 per cent of the fuel has been recovered from English Bay. Roughly 2,700 litres spilled into the water. The Coast Guard adds the vessel in question was in Vancouver to pick up a load of grain. It remains boomed and dive teams are continuing assessment.

The spill happened yesterday at around 5 p.m., but city officials weren’t told about it until this morning. The spill is believed to have come from a grain tanker. Vancouver Fire says a boom has been set up around the ship and another boom is being towed around English Bay to collect pockets of spilled fuel.

It’s the jurisdiction of the federal government to deal with the spill and the Coast Guard alerted the province to the situation last night.

Vancouver City Councillor Geoff Meggs says the city wasn’t given an opportunity to offer any input on response times and cleanup. “I think we will want to keep going back, as we always do after an incident like this, to make sure we have the best possible cooperation among all the agencies so if, in the event, there is a problem, we make an appropriate response and don’t have any gaps in our response time or approach.”

City Manager Penny Ballem says Vancouver needs to be an integrated part of any response. “Our first responders are actually contracted by the Port, both fire and police, to actually provide services on the water. So, we have a very clear role.”

The NDP’s Spencer Chandra Herbert says people were put at risk. “People were out there last night playing with their dogs, having fun in the water. Meanwhile, we were having bunker fuel oil, they still can’t tell us what it is, in our water, potentially causing harm.”

There’s concern the sheen could coat birds and marine mammals and poison shore dwellers like crabs.

Dr. Peter Ross with the Vancouver Aquarium has taken samples to find out what exactly this substance will do. “It’s important to get the fingerprint of the particular crude product in this case in order to identify the responsible party.”

The City of Vancouver has had many calls and tweets from people wondering how they can help with the cleanup. It is still working on whether volunteers will be needed.

Anyone who wants to help should call 3-1-1 and register their interest.

 

[Real Sonny Burnett]

Whomever is responsible for closing the coast guard station should be fired. The boat they had (The Osprey) along with 1000' of oil boom has been mothballed and the engines were sold. The Harper Conservatives have their heads up their ass, a huge Port city like this needs proper response teams and its a Federal responsibility!

^ I agree with this 100%.

 

[@Felicity]

Vessel named "MARATHASSA", registered with IMO number 9698862 and MMSI 212484000 is bulk carrier. She is currently sailing under the flag of Cyprus. There is no data about year of built. The ships last stop: Korea.

Map of current ships in English Bay: http://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9698862

 

[@Felicity]

English Bay Tides:

English Bay Winds:

vesselfinder.com

edit: Girourd says small slick got away from skimmers & made it to Sandy Cove on the North Shore. Cleanup will target Sandy Cove & Dundarave Reef.

 

[morementum]

Love the outrage. Anyone who is "outraged" but either drives or uses any goods that are shipped by boat, plane, train or truck had better give their hypocrisy a check at the door. The same people who scream bloody murder about higher fees/taxes turn around and have outrage when something happens and the "government should have stopped it". Until the majority of people figure out that THEY are the government and that THEIR consumption of goods is what drives things like pipelines, tankers and such, solutions will be hard to come by.

Ironically was in West Vancouver yesterday and saw a small band of "Idle No More" protestors and a couple from something called "Tides" according to their literature they were littering with (pamphlets were all over the ground). Two of the three vehicles I saw them pile out of were SUVs including one that had a sticker on the back window that said "No Pipelines, No Tankers, Ever". Wow, the fuel for their SUV clearly magically appears into their tank for their noble cause.

Moving to Vancouver area has opened my eyes to just how hypocritical people can be when they think their shit doesn't smell and their own actions are exempt from the discussion because they fight the righteous fight.

 

[Lo-ki]

So well said.....:clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2:

 

[cumberland69]

"Tides" is a incredibly well funded US NGO that pumps big $ to Canadian organizations to protest every development, especially pipelines.

 

[@Felicity]

double post.

 

[@Felicity]

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is making an election promise in the wake of the fuel spill in English Bay.

His party thinks having the Kits Coast Guard Station would have aided in response to the fuel spill and he’s vowing to re-open it, if elected.

Trudeau says the government’s cuts have undermined the ability to respond.

Local Liberal MP Joyce Murray says her party is disappointed in the Coast Guard’s poor response yesterday. The Kits Coast Guard had the boat that could go out and respond right away, but it’s no longer available. We also had a BC Marine Communication and Traffic Centre.”

With no warning the feds closed the Coast Guard station there in 2013. The closure was met with a lot of criticism from people worried it would take someone to actually die in order to get it re-opened.

​

Mr. Trudeau will get it done!!

 

[@Felicity]

30,000 litres of bunker fuel?

Oil residue is being left on Vancouver beaches after a cargo ship leaked bunker fuel.

Despite thousands of offers of help, Vancouver officials say only trained crews in protective gear should be cleaning up the oil spill from a ship in English Bay.

An estimated 30,000 litres of bunker fuel leaked into the water from a brand-new cargo ship that apparently had a malfunction on Wednesday evening.

Oil residue has been washing up on local beaches, and some residents have been out with gloves, brushes, and buckets of soapy water to try and clean up.

However, the city is asking everyone to refrain from cleanup efforts and to stay out of the water.

"Cleanup efforts will involve crews in protective gear with special expertise in oil recovery and for now there is no involvement possible for volunteers," said the Vancouver Park Board in a news release Friday.

"We appreciate the thousands of offers of help from citizen volunteers and are impressed by the passion local residents have shown for our beaches and wildlife. We will continue to work with the federal and provincial authorities to find ways our volunteers can help as the cleanup continues."

The official cleanup effort will focus on English Bay and Stanley Park, which will temporarily close the seawall around Siwash Rock.

The Western Canada Marine Response Corporation is in charge of the cleanup as directed by the Canadian Coast Guard and with help from City of Vancouver staff.

Several oiled birds have been taken to a refuge for treatment, said the park board.

On Friday, B.C. Premier Christy Clark criticized the coast guard for not alerting city officials until more than 12 hours after the spill.

"The response to what is a relatively small oil spill by historical standards has been totally inadequate," added Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson.

In a video uploaded to Vimeo (watch below), some residents trying to clean up the beach on Thursday wondered why there were no officials joining them in their efforts.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/04/10/vancouver-oil-spill-cleanup_n_7044398.html