VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The BC government says it’s going to develop what it calls “world-leading” plans to prevent and respond to oil spills from pipelines on land.
    
The strategy is laid out in a policy paper released today, just weeks before the provincial government attends a joint-review panel hearing in Prince Rupert on the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline project.
    
Environment Minister Terry Lake says he and Energy Minister Rich Coleman will hold consultations with the oil and gas industry beginning in January to discuss things like minimum response times, equipment, training, waste management and cleanup expectations.
    
He says the government will also reach out to First Nations, local governments and environmentalists through a web-based consultation process.
    
Those consultations will wrap up February 15, and the government will then hold a prevention-and-response symposium with world leaders in the field at the end of March in Vancouver.
    
Lake says the provincial government will also press the federal government to develop world-leading response plans for spills along the coast.