On July 26, 2016, Matt Abbott, the Conservation Council’ Fundy Baykeeper, was quoted in a Canadian Press article picked up by the Toronto Star, CTV and the Globe and Mail, following the release of an NRDC report that’s sounding the alarm on a massive increase of supertankers set to ship the dirtiest oil in the world across the Atlantic Ocean every year.
“Diluted bitumen from tar sands has unique properties that create impacts that current spill response techniques and technologies are simply not equipped to address,” said Abbott, one of a series of experts who contributed his research on the sensitivity of the Bay of Fundy.
“In fact, we don’t have the equipment or know-how to prevent, contain or clean up tar sands oil spills in our rivers, much less open oceans and coasts,” warned the Fundy Baykeeper.
The report, authored by the National Resource Defence Council (NRDC) in partnership with CCNB, and other environmental organizations, says the nearly 300 supertankers loaded with roughly 76 to 127 Olympic-size pools of thick black bitumen sludge would pose a massive threat for nearby marine life—in the form of deafening ocean noise, vassal collisions, and heightened risks of major oil spills.
After pressure from CCNB, the National Energy Board’s (NEB) extended it’s review of the pipeline to include risks affecting the environment and marine life in the Bay of Fundy.
Given the lack of thorough research into the marine impacts, The NRDC is calling for a moratorium be put in place on the use of tar supertankers in the Bay of Fundy.