More oil tankers needed for extra capacity: report

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A report says Canada would have to double the number of oil tankers working on the west coast if plans to build new pipelines and expand others are approved.

Assessing Marine Transport for Oil Sands on Canada’s West Coast was published last month and says 750 new tankers would be needed to handle the extra capacity.

It says fewer than 500 tankers work the Canadian west coast right now, compared to 3,500 on the east coast.

The report speaks favourably of increasing tanker traffic on BC waters, presenting evidence that safety has improved significantly in the past 20 years.  It states that double-hauled tankers have made a significant difference in reducing the amount of oil that is lost during an average spill.

But not everyone agrees that a strong case for new pipelines and more tankers has been made.

Ben West with Forest Ethics says if you look at the human rights issues associated with the extraction of this oil, the impact on climate change, or the potential impact of an oil spill, it becomes clear that expansion is “simply not the right direction to go.”

“Also, that report did not look at what else we could be doing that would generate better jobs that we can all be proud of, and don’t have that kind of risk associated with them,” he adds.

The report offers no recommendations.  Its author says the purpose was to assess the regulatory climate in Canada, and highlight the safety improvements the oil industry has made in recent years.

Kinder Morgan has been lobbying to twin its Trans Mountain pipeline between Edmonton and Vancouver, while Enbridge is looking to build a new pipeline between Edmonton and Kitimat on BC’s north coast.