kayakwriter
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- Joined
- Feb 27, 2006
- Messages
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Crap. Bunker oil is the very worst stuff, the dregs after most of the lighter petroleum is separated away. Spills like this really hack me off. It will take a long time for this stuff to degrade.kayakwriter said:
Outsider, I agree accidents happen. Oil spills from ocean going vessels are going to happen, various ways. Some are catastrophic, some minor. Compared to the spill from the Exxon Valdez in 1989, this one is minor. I think what has folks in an uproar is that it appears there is not much infrastructure set up to deal with spills. Certainly you agree they should be contained, as best as possible, and not ignored. Where I live, on the lower reaches of the Columbia, there are caches of spill containment materials stashed in five or six nesr water locations from the mouth to Portland, some 90 miles of river. And, a large sea going vessel permanently stationed in my town, outfitted to deal with spills occurring at sea. Funding is part from the government, part from companies which ship oil.Outsider said:I don't think that this is at all the end of the world.
Doesn't anyone have anything positive to say or put this in perspective.
I live at English Bay. Seems just an accident to me.
Accidents happen everywhere.
Outsider
Outsider said:I don't think that this is at all the end of the world.
Doesn't anyone have anything positive to say or put this in perspective.
I live at English Bay. Seems just an accident to me.
Accidents happen everywhere.
Outsider
Astoriadave said:Outsider, I agree accidents happen. Oil spills from ocean going vessels are going to happen, various ways. Some are catastrophic, some minor. Compared to the spill from the Exxon Valdez in 1989, this one is minor. I think what has folks in an uproar is that it appears there is not much infrastructure set up to deal with spills. Certainly you agree they should be contained, as best as possible, and not ignored. Where I live, on the lower reaches of the Columbia, there are caches of spill containment materials stashed in five or six nesr water locations from the mouth to Portland, some 90 miles of river. And, a large sea going vessel permanently stationed in my town, outfitted to deal with spills occurring at sea. Funding is part from the government, part from companies which ship oil.Outsider said:I don't think that this is at all the end of the world.
Doesn't anyone have anything positive to say or put this in perspective.
I live at English Bay. Seems just an accident to me.
Accidents happen everywhere.
Outsider
I
The bottom line is to be ready to respond to accidents, and not to ignore them. The Columbia, like the waters around Vancouver leading to the Fraser River, are prime habitant for migrating anadromous fish. A spill can have a devastating effect on the harvest of salmon, both at the time of the spill, and years into the future. And that can wreak havoc on a fruitful and economically valuable resource near my town. Similar to what happened in Prince William Sound, but on a much smaller scale.
To fail to prepare adequately for accidents such as the spill near Vancouver is irresponsible for a culture dependent on oil. Just as it would be irresponsible to fail to carry a first aid kit when you go paddling.
WGalbraith said:After reading through the posts to this topic, I was as horrified as Dan. It was clear from the media reports that the Captain of the ship that caused this spill denied anything to do with it... until the photo evidence was presented. Until that point I thought maybe it was simply an accident. My blood boiled when I discovered that the Captain was lying and doing all he could to limit responsibility and therefore, liability rather than doing something about it.
In today's world it is unavoidable to use products made of plastics manufactured with oil products. That does not mean we should not do our utmost to minimize our effect on our environment. Spills will continue and we need to take responsibility for our actions and be prepared to deal with the consequences.