The Wilderness Committee has publicly launched a new automated system
to draw attention to oil tankers in Burrard Inlet. Members of the
general public are now able to sign up for “oil tanker alerts” on their
cell phones.
This innovative service informs concerned residents when a tanker is
preparing to fill up with crude oil at the Kinder Morgan Terminal in
Burnaby, the site of a 2007 oil spill.
There is also an associated
twitter account that provides more detailed information about when the
tanker is passing under the Second Narrows Bridge (the narrowest part of
the inlet), when it is docked at the terminal and when it’s leaving the
inlet. The service provides information about the name and size of the
tankers as well as information about how to get involved in the campaign
to oppose oil exports off the BC coast.
“We have designed this service to help inform members of the general
public about the expansion of oil exports that has been happening
quietly without anyone being properly consulted,” said Ben West,
Wilderness Committee Healthy Communities Campaigner. “No longer will any
tankers pass through Vancouver Harbour without anybody knowing about
it,” said West.
The Keystone XL pipeline proposal has been an international news
story and the Enbridge Pipeline proposal has received a lot of attention
in the media, but the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion plan has largely
gone unnoticed. Kinder Morgan quietly expanded their export capacity by
50,000 barrels a day in 2008 shortly after the Burnaby oil spill.
Kinder Morgan has now begun the process of moving towards a massive
expansion of their pipeline and associated tanker traffic.
“The success of the campaign against the Keystone XL pipeline means
there will be an even bigger push to turn the BC coast into the tar
sands shipping port, and we want to make it clear that we are not going
to let that happen,” said West.
“This new alert system gives local residents a sense of the sheer
volume of crude oil being shipped from Vancouver, and all the risk that
brings – both in terms of a potential spill but also the risks of
climate change that come with an expansion of tar sands oil exports,”
said West.
To subscribe to receive the tanker alert text messages, simply text
the word ‘Oil’ to 604 800 9180. To follow the alerts on twitter follow twitter.com/BurrardInletOil.
For more information about the Wilderness Committee tanker campaign visit WildernessCommittee.org/Tankers
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Contact:
Ben West, Wilderness Committee, Healthy Communities Campaigner, 604-710-5340
