Feds strengthen Canada’s tanker safety system

SAINT JOHN, NB, May 13, 2014 /CNW/ – The Government of Canada announced today it is further strengthening Canada’s tanker safety system. These measures act on recommendations by the independent Tanker Safety Expert Panel and build on other studies, as well as input received from provincial governments, Aboriginal groups and marine stakeholders from across Canada.. These safety measures are in addition to those announced by the Government of Canada in March 2013, said a release today.

The improvements work towards preventing spills in the first place, cleaning them up quickly if they do occur, and making sure polluters pay.

These measures include:

• Modernizing Canada’s marine navigation system. Canada is a member of the International Maritime Organization, and will take a leadership role in implementing e-Navigation, which reduces the risk of an oil spill by providing accurate and real-time information and data on navigational hazards, weather and ocean conditions to vessel operators and marine authorities to minimize the potential of collisions and accidents.

• Establishing new area response planning partnerships for each of the following regions that have current or projected high levels of tanker traffic: the southern portion of British Columbia; Saint John and the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick; Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia; Gulf of St. Lawrence, Quebec. Oil spill prevention, preparedness and response in these four areas will take into consideration the area’s geography, environmental sensitivities, and oil tanker traffic volumes.

• Supporting Aboriginal communities so that they can participate in marine emergency preparedness and response planning around their communities.

• Amending legislation to provide the use of alternate response measures such as the use of chemical dispersants and burning spilled oil during emergencies, and to clarify the Canadian Coast Guard’s authority to use and to authorize these measures when there is likely to be a net environmental benefit.

• Strengthening the polluter pay regime by introducing legislative and regulatory amendments that will enhance Canada’s domestic Ship-Source Oil Pollution Fund (SOPF). These amendments will remove the fund’s existing per-incident liability limit of $161 million in order to make available the full amount of the SOPF for a single incident—currently around $400 million; ensure compensation is provided to eligible claimants and recover these costs from industry through a levy, in the unlikely event that all domestic and international pollution funds have been exhausted; and  compensate those who have lost earnings due to an oil spill even if their property has not been contaminated by a spill.