SPILL RESPONSE BOAT SINKS AS PRIME MINISTER APPEARS TO BACKTRACK ON TANKER BAN PROMISE

October 19, 2016

SPILL RESPONSE BOAT SINKS AS PRIME MINISTER APPEARS TO BACKTRACK ON TANKER BAN PROMISE

With ongoing response to a diesel spill near Bella Bella in disarray, Prime Minister Trudeau’s comments prompt deep concern

VICTORIA, B.C. – Coastal residents are gobsmacked to learn that a boat working to retrieve diesel from a sunken tug in the Great Bear Rainforest has itself sunk. Details are still sketchy, but Dogwood has confirmed that a skiff operated by Florida-based Resolve marine salvage took on water Wednesday afternoon and went down in Seaforth Channel, next to the wreck of the tug Nathan E. Stewart. A crew member was rescued, fortunately without injury.

“If this is world-class spill response, it’s not good enough,” said Kai Nagata, communications director at Dogwood Initiative. “And after what we heard from the Prime Minister today, we are deeply concerned that Ottawa is still not taking oil spills on the West Coast seriously.”

Asked about his plans for a North Coast oil tanker ban on Vancouver’s Breakfast Television this morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instead described how his government had reopened the Kitsilano Coast Guard station, 650 kilometers away from the diesel spill in the Great Bear Rainforest.

“The oil tanker ban was Trudeau’s idea. It was his promise to British Columbians. But when he was asked a simple question about his plan for the North Coast, he chose to talk instead about Kitsilano,” said Nagata.

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https://dogwoodinitiative.org/spill-response-boat-sinks-prime-minister-appears-backtrack-tanker-ban-promise/