RELEVANT KNOWLDEGE or EXPERTISE
| TABLE 4 – Issue 7: The potential environmental and socio-economic effects of the proposed project. |
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In the summers I work as a naturalist for a wildlife/whale-watching company based out of Granville Island, in Vancouver. Increased shipping activities will affect the whales in the area (especially the southern resident killer whales, which are listed under the Species At Risk Act), via either noise pollution or collisions. This will inadvertently also affect my livelihood. Furthermore, an oil spill in the region whether from a pipeline or from a tanker, would decimate our local ecosystem. As a student at the University of Victoria I have studied the long range effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill on the communities and wildlife in Prince William Sound. Almost 25 years later these communities are still struggling under the changes imposed on them by this anthropogenic disaster. A population of killer whales which swam though the spill has been completely wiped out. Overall I believe the risks to our ecosystem and our communities would be too great, and limited benefits offered are not worth it. I hope to be allowed the opportunity to express my concerns to the Board. |
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Dr. Weaver holds a PhD in applied mathematics with a focus on ocean, atmosphere and climate dynamics. His early work examined the physical oceanography of coastal waters including the Strait of Juan de Fuca. He has a long, documented career of published expertise in physical ocean science as a Professor in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria and prior to that, as a Professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at McGill. Dr. Weaver is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, the American Meteorological society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2011 A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in Marine Science. He is considered one of the world’s experts in ocean circulation modeling and has served on numerous national and international committees in this regard. He has published extensively in oceanographic journals including: Journal of Physical Oceanography; the Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research; Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology; Progress in Oceanography; Ocean and Coastal Management; Journal of Marine Research; Ocean Modelling; and Atmosphere-Ocean. As an internationally-regarded scientist, Dr. Weaver has advised local, provincial and international governments on science-based policy. He was a Lead Author on four of the five reports from the International Panel on Climate Change and recently co-authored an expert panel report for the Royal Society of Canada on “Sustaining Canadian marine biodiversity.” Dr. Weaver also participated in an oceanographic cruise in the Strait of Georgia, Discovery Passage, Johnstone Strait and Queen Charlotte Strait. Dr. Weaver’s internationally-regarded expertise in physical oceanography and his experience in advising governments on science-based policy uniquely qualify him to intervene on issue 5 and to recommend terms and conditions for project approval under issue 8, particularly as these pertain to research on dilbit in marine environments, the likely impact of a potential spill in BC coastal waters, and gaps in research. Meanwhile, the economic viability of the pipeline (Issue 2) depends on the economic viability of the upstream oil production. Investors world-wide, have warned about a carbon bubble, whereby global emissions targets will prevent the development of assets that contribute to carbon emissions, raising questions about the viability of long-term oil sands development and the wider economic threat from frozen carbon-based assets. These warnings have been echoed by reports from HSBC and statements from the President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim. As one of the world’s foremost climate scientists, Dr. Weaver has been at the forefront of domestic laws and international agreements regarding carbon emissions making him well-positioned to intervene on the likelihood of a carbon bubble undermining the economic feasibility of the project. |
| As a collective of concerned environmentalists, the Environmental Issues Committee is submitting an intervenor application on behalf of the student populace at Capilano University. We are able to provide a compelling testimony for how this population will be affected daily if the Kinder Morgan expansion project is approved by the Board. |
| The Gulf Islands and the Salish Sea are considered at high risk for an oil spill. I am a waterfront landowner in the Gulf Islands, specifically on Thetis Island, and an oil spill will affect the economic value of my property, as well as my use and enjoyment of my property. Many birds and marine mammals frequent the marine waters in front of and near my house daily year round, including bufflehead, goldeneye, gulls, great blue heron (a species at risk), kingfisher, mergansers, bald eagle, scoter, marbled murrelet (a species at risk), cormorants, harbour seal, river otter. Marine birds and mammals are very sensitive to oil spills. I kayak daily in the Gulf Islands, and an oil spill will negatively impact this recreational activity, including bird watching and whale watching. I sail throughout the Gulf Islands for 14 to 21 days in the summer months each year and an oil spill will adversely impact this recreational activity. I am a biologist and a writer and I have been writing about the southern resident killer whales for seven years. Southern resident killer whales are an endangered species in Canada and the proposed tanker route travels through their critical habitat. An oil spill will adversely impact this population of endangered whales. Major threats to the southern resident killer whales include toxic contamination from pollutants and acoustic interference from marine traffic; the proposed marine shipping route for tankers from the project will increase both of these threats. |
| False Creek Watershed Society – a representative stakeholder for:-The people who live in the vicinity.-Those who use False Creek and Georgia Straight as a Recreational Area
-Those who obtain their economic livelihood from these water bodies. -The flora and fauna of these water bodies and their shorelines that are not otherwise represented. We are concerned that this proposal will threaten the interests of all of these associated stakeholders. A major increase in Tanker Traffic in Georgia Strait near Vancouver will endanger these waters and shorelines every day for many years to come. We understand that sealife movement is affected by an increase in tanker traffic – eg. large mammals such as whales and dolphins – even if there is not an oil spill. A “fortiori” if there is a spill. The tankers would be carrying Bitumen (as well as crude oil). Bitumen is a heavy product close to impossible to clean up. Any oil spill in the pipeline close to Vancouver will likely affect the Fraser River and runoff would come down to the coast and affect our waters including life that lives in the river and ocean for kilometers around. Any oil spill close to the waters of False Creek as well as upstream on the Fraser River would affect millions of people. Bitumen entering the Creek would be highly toxic, possibly flammable and very detrimental to human, animal and plant health for a long period of time. We also know that the Lower Mainland and Georgia Strait is at high risk for Earthquakes and Tsunamis. Building higher capacity pipelines and allowing tankers carrying highly toxic substances through such an area are not risks our stakeholders are prepared to support. We also believe the increase in oil tanker traffic will affect the health of local recreational and other economies which thrive on clean water with plant and animal species. There is little net gain for people living around False Creek – and a great deal to lose – if tanker traffic closeby would increase. For example – how would an oil spill near the Creek affect the businesses on Granville Island? As well the bitumen is for export and so would not help local communities. This means any spill which happened would put our local economy at risk for the benefit of getting Alberta Bitumen to market. The First Nations people used the rich resources of False Creek as sustenance for thousands of years. Since settlement the natural capital wealth of plant and animal species has been largely extirpated. Today some species are returning slowly. We would not like to endanger this positive trend. Our mandate is to encourage a sustainable human society. We believe that allowing the passage of more tankers carrying Tar Sands oil only solidifies our dependence on an archaic approach with high external costs and few durable benefits to meet our energy needs. We owe it to our grandchildren to create a world in the future without such high dependence on fossil fuels. |
| On Vancouver Island we share the waters this project risks contaminating, known as the Salish Sea. Here we eat ever-diminishing wild seafood like clams, oysters, crab, scallops, and of course sacred salmon. Our access to traditional, economical and safe foods would be affected by this project, in at least three ways: 1) Forest watershed habitat damage from new construction potentially resulting in watershed contamination and reductions in salmon-spawning capacity, 2) increased spill contamination risk from increased pipeline capacity potentially contaminating coastal food supplies, and 3) increased spill risk from increased tanker traffic/capacity potentially contaminating coastal food supplies.We believe this project poses unacceptable increased risk to coastal economies that rely on healthy marine environments for healthy industries to remain viable, including but not limited to aquaculture farms, shellfish harvesters, fishermen of every stripe, tourism and nature-based accommodations, even the controversial ocean-based fish-farming operations. It would be unwise for a panel to approve such a project, for they would be knowingly colluding with a corporate interest by allowing them to risk contaminating the primary food source and therefore the very survival of the coastal people of the Salish Sea, including residents of Vancouver, Victoria, and the entire southern BC coastline, according to field spill-demonstrations. Thus I urge you, as respectable public servants, to please do your duty to these members of the public who will be most directly affected by any decision in this case, and do not allow corporate interest to further jeopardize individual health for those of us living in the proposed project’s range of effect. We have seen enough contamination to know that accidents from these projects do not go away. We support the right to protect the health and safety of one’s bioregion, and stand with everyone affected by this project, to say, “No, we can’t accept your project as it endangers too much sustainable food supply and marine environmental health.” |
| The PEA represents licensed professionals who work directly for the Province of BC. These include Engineers, Geologists, Foresters and Agrologists. |