A Whale of a Cover Up: Pacific Oil Spills

Listen up. There has been another oil spill in BC. Have you heard this in the news? Probably not... For two months there has been a potentially very hazardous oil spill near the north shores of Vancouver Island. On August 20th, 2007, a barge carrying logging equipment and a fuel truck with 10,000 litres of diesel fuel spilled its cargo into the pristine waters of Michael Bigg Ecological Reserve off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island. The Reserve is a sanctuary to one of the largest resident Orca populations in the world.

Imagine highly trained people in wet suits swimming around a big dirty fuel truck trying to get a sling under its belly before it spills more of its deadly poison into the water... well you can imagine it all you want because it hasn't happened yet.

 

I read a nice piece on the history recent oil spills in Puget Sound in Washington State.

 
Then I started to wonder about how many oil spills occur off US waters every year. Remarkably I found this fascinating account labeled Oil Spills in US Waters - Calendar Year 2004

 
Fuel Ghoul wonders if the Orca will survive? Up until this summer they had a pristine habitat north east of Vancouver Island. After the spill of August 2007, Greenpeace, the Living Oceans Society, and local whale watching companies called on the Federal and Provincial Governments to conduct an underwater investigation to determine the state of the wreckage and whether there is potential for further leakage from the fuel truck, which may still contain up to 9000 litres of diesel.  Click here now to help Greenpeace work to stop further damage to the Orcas and their habitat!

Due to changing weather conditions, an investigation needs to be done immediately !

Greenpeace plans to locate the wreckage using sonar technology. Then they will perform a visual investigation using a Remote Operated Vehicle and turn all data over to the Ministries of Environment and the Coast Guard. This is the only way to determine if the fuel truck is a ticking time bomb…

 
What would 9,000 litres of diesel fuel seeping into a marine ecological reserve do to the resident pods of Orca whales?  Sadly, we are going to find out.