Oil tanker alerts from BC Wilderness Committee

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The BC Wilderness Committee wants you to pay attention to oil tanker traffic in the waters around Vancouver.  The group has developed a new service that will send a text message to subscribers whenever a tanker fills up at Burnaby’s Westridge Marine Terminal.

The committee worries the number of oil tankers using Burrard Inlet has more than tripled over the last six years.

“From the time when Kinder Morgan bought the pipeline in [2005], we had about 22 tankers then; and last year we saw 79 tankers pass through the inlet,” says Ben West, a healthy communities campaigner with the committee.

“This is increasingly, really just about exporting oil, not about our own consumption of oil,” he adds.

He says the committee is monitoring all tanker traffic, and will issue a text with details about each tanker as it arrives.

West notes Kinder Morgan is considering further expansion of its trans-mountain pipeline bringing oil from Alberta to the terminal in Burnaby. “We’re very quickly transforming into a major oil exporter, and nobody’s being asked in BC if this is an acceptable risk.”

His worries include potential oil spills and continuing climate change.

To sign up for the alerts on your phone, text “oil” to 604-800-9180.  You can also follow any progress on Twitter.

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