Oily sands
Ships wreck. Which begs the question: what is the sudden urgency to move crude oil along the three coasts of Canada? We haven’t had any “worst in the century” incidents yet, but there is still time.
Of the coast of BC, a Russian freighter is drifting… Again. Taken in tow last evening, the lines “parted”, which is a really polite way of admitting that the tow team underestimated the job at hand. The team (AKA our Coast Guard) are supposed to be there when commercial firms drop the ball. Stand by, in case that freighter finds the coast and discharges a very messy cargo in a very messy manner.
I remember the hullabaloo when the *rving Whale went down (the asterisk doesn’t stand for star). Some beautiful beaches bit the environmental bullet on that one. Could happen again.
In the estuary of the St. Lawrence River, some environmentally challenged entrepreneurs AND politicians are convinced that we need a deep water port to SHIP OIL, right next to a marine preserve. Do the math. How many tragedies involving large tankers measuring 250 metres in length (thinking of you, Minerva Gloria) can the beleaguered beluga endure? Right; NONE.
Why would anyone with a grain of sanity want to take such risks? I said, grain of sanity, not grain of oily sand. The only (faint) hope is that the price of crude continues to drop below that magical level known as “profitable”. And for anyone that thinks it can’t go terribly wrong in a hurry, I offer one image from those *rving Whale days.
Magdalen Islands
