Whatever a person’s position is on Kinder Morgan shipping oil along our coast, they should be aware of some simple facts that get lost.
As many as 85,000 vessels a year over 60 tonnes pass Ogden Point reporting in. We will have a major spill on our coast one day; every day the odds become greater. We have virtually no cleanup capabilities on our coast now.
With Kinder Morgan, traffic increases by 330 vessels or .003 per cent.
If the pipeline goes ahead, we will get six oil-spill cleanup response teams and offshore tugboats escorting tankers out of our waters that will also be able to respond if a vessel runs into trouble.
On a simple risk assessment, our beautiful coastline is much better off with the slight increase in traffic and benefits.
In addition to this, the biggest threat to our oceans is plastics. A huge win for our oceans and province would be if these spill-response teams started removing plastic from the ocean in their down-time.
Working with the University of Victoria, they could become the leading experts in the world on removing plastic from the ocean, and a whole new amazing industry could be started.
Regardless of political party, it’s time politicians started leading with positive solutions, not where they will get votes from. That is leadership I believe all Canadians want.
Gerald Hartwig
Victoria
