mikeclay.ca - Feb 27,2014 Tri Cities Now

Jeremy Deutsch / Tri-Cities Now
February 27, 2014 04:22 PM

With major pipeline projects being proposed for B.C., including one in the Tri-Cities’ backyard, the organization in charge of responding to marine spills is making the rounds to local city councils.
On Tuesday, officials with Western Canada Marine Response Corp. (WCMRC) dropped by Port Moody city council to provide an update on the organization’s activities and to answer questions.
While the organization said it has the capacity to respond to a 26,000-tonnes spill, more than double the current requirement, Belcarra Mayor Ralph Drew, who was at the council meeting listening to the presentation, questioned whether the organization can handle a large-scale spill.
Specifically, he pointed out his concern that WCMRC doesn’t have a home base along the water.
“That is the key to quickly deploying people and equipment throughout the harbour,” Drew said.
He argued the response time to a spill in the inlet could be cut down by 10 minutes at least, because currently crews have to get into vehicles to drive to the various locations where their equipment and vessels are stored.
WCMRC, which is funded by the shipping industry and certified through Transport Canada, has more than two dozen response vessels and seven barges scattered throughout the coast and around Burrard Inlet.
Locations include the Imperial Oil site, Suncor in Burnaby and the docks at Canada Place in Vancouver.
“They need to be able to walk out of their office door, get on their vessels at a home-base dock and quickly move their people around and employ booms,” Drew said.
The Belcarra mayor suggested WCMRC, and the industry that funds the organization, should have stepped up following the big oil spill in Burnaby back in 2007.
Officials with WCMRC noted the organization is moving in the direction of getting a home-base dock.
They also pointed out WCMRC has an average response time for a spill of about 60 minutes, well below regulation guidelines.
Kinder Morgan is proposing to twin its 1,550-kilometre-long oil pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby.
Port Moody, Belcarra and Coquitlam have all applied to take part in National Energy Board hearings on the proposed project.
While Port Moody Mayor Mike Clay said WCMRC could improve its service, he also suggested the organization is misunderstood by the public. He said the organization has been working hard and has good plans in place, adding records show WCMRC is capable of responding to an incident.
“We should work with them, not against them,” Clay said.
But he also questioned why WCMRC doesn’t have a home base somewhere between the various refinery terminals on the inlet.
The organization, formerly known as Burrard Clean, has been in existence for 20 years and is responsible for responding to marine disasters along the entire B.C. coast.
WCMRC has 30 permanent staff, several hundred more contractors it can call to help out in an emergency and three warehouse facilities, including one in Burnaby.