Government and Industry Engage on World-Leading Spill Plan

VANCOUVER – Thirteen key stakeholder organisations, including representatives from the railway, petroleum, transportation, and business sectors, are meeting face-to-face today to begin building what will become a made-in-B.C., world-leading spill response plan.
Foundational to the discussion will be the provincial government’s recently released policy intentions paper
(http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/codes/spr_eep/response.htm), which outlines how government will work with industry to establish a world-leading spill response regime that deals with all hazardous materials spills that may occur on land in B.C. Today’s meeting is the first of several discussions between government and industry to lay the groundwork for future policy development.
The Ministry of Environment receives approximately 3,500 notifications of environmental emergencies per year; this includes oil-tank leaks, home-based oil spills, overturned tanker trucks, oil and fuel spills on water, rail accidents, and chemical spills. While approximately 90 per cent of these are considered minor, the projected increase in the movement of hazardous materials throughout B.C. necessitates a well-co-ordinated response and preparedness plan.
Environment Minister Terry Lake will give an overview presentation on the intentions paper, highlighting the need for policy change in support of a full polluter-pay system where the costs associated with a spill rests with business and industry and not taxpayers. Among the topics discussed will be spill management in neighbouring coastal jurisdictions that include key concepts such as: industry funding into government program budgets and spill response funds, increased emergency-response staff and membership in a collective spill-response organisation.
Representatives from each of the 13 stakeholder organisations will then be given an opportunity to give direct input on the content of the paper to government.
The 13 organisations were represented at Tuesday’s roundtable include: The industry organisations represent the sectors responsible for the transportation, storage, and use of significant volumes of hazardous materials which present risk to public safety and the environment should a spill occur.
A land-based spill prevention and response symposium is planned for March 25th – 27th in Vancouver. Here, spill-response experts from around the world will give presentations and discuss best practices to build and shape
B. C.’s policy going forward:
Terry Lake, Minister of Environment said, “Our number-one priority is to protect the environment, and we know how important this is to British Columbians, as evidenced by the response to public hearings on NGP. This is why we are not stopping at the establishment of five key conditions for heavy oil pipelines, and are developing world-leading policy that deals with all land-based hazardous materials spills including those from trucks, railcars, home oil tanks and chemical spills. Today’s meeting and the future symposium represent a great opportunity for industry to demonstrate to its customers, clients, shareholders and the public its commitment to sustainability.”
Rich Coleman, Minister of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas ,”Our government has shown leadership when it comes to safety practices in protecting our environment. Working with major stakeholders, we must strengthen oversight and management as we look at the prospects of new industrial projects coming forward. Together, we are working to keep B.C.’s coastline and wildlife safe.”
Michael Bourque, president and CEO, Railway Association of Canada – “The Railway Association of Canada is anxious to work co-operatively with the government of British Columbia and other stakeholders on its spill preparedness and response regime for land-based spills. Regardless of which mode is used to transport crude oil and other regulated commodities, transporters must be prepared and capable of doing so responsibly and safely.”

Follow

Comments

comments