BP Oil Spill in Victoria BC?

June 4, 2010 - PRLog -- Disgusted as our monitors and TV's pollute our minds with visions oil covered pelicans and blackened estuaries, the worst of what our society has done is presented before our eyes. Yes BP (British Petroleum) is the current focus of our anger at the oil spill, time will tell there was other culprits involved including, in a small way, you and me. Could an oil spill like this happen in Victoria BC?

“BP's Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg and Group Chief Executive Tony Hayward told shareholders today that the company's response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is their top priority, along with rebuilding trust and confidence in BP and ensuring that such an accident never happens again.” bp.com

“With deep sea drilling, BP is pushing the technology to its limits – this accident shows that they have pushed it beyond its limits. So too with the response to the spill.” greenpeace.org

Victoria BC has temporary immunity from such a large and catastrophic oil spill because of a moratorium placed on shipping oil through the inside passage between Vancouver Island and the BC mainland. Since 1972 Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau imposed an unofficial moratorium on oil transportation off the coast of Victoria BC and the inside passage. But now the Georgia Strait and Strait of Juan de Fuca (just off Victoria BC) are highly coveted shipping routes and oil interests would relish the opportunity to use this delicate marine highway.

Since the moratorium for shipping oil near Victoria BC  was not enacted into law and thus is only currently “observed”. Special interest groups would like to see the ban lifted and oil tankers to start shipping through Vancouver Island's inside passage. Though our current government may have considered lifting the ban, fortunately it still remains.

“The rainforest on Canada's Pacific coast supports many threatened and globally unique marine and terrestrial species. Over two thousand separate runs of Pacific salmon intertwine through an ecosystem rich with wildlife, including genetically distinct wolves, the all-white Spirit bear, Canada's largest grizzly bears in addition to many species of marine mammals.” pacificwild.org referring to the Great Bear Rain Forest.

No one in Victoria BC, Port Hardy, Prince Rupert or even Haida Gwaii would want to go through what the victims of the BP oil spill have to go through now. The people, the wildlife and the environment would suffer for many years to come and spoil one of the most pristine environments in the world.

I know you care about not having oil being shipped through the inside passage and the ban for drilling for oil off the BC coast to continue. I would recommend you inform your local MP (member of parliament) or MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) and letting them know your feelings on this subject. And help preserve what we have... forever.

Victoria BC Tourism. http://www.victoriabcca.com/

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