Kua pis
bait forest)

2

" Canadian concerns regarding the safety of this trade be represented by the
federal and BC governments to the US authorities.

A second potential source of a large spill, however, is the tanker traffic
exporting crude oil from Westridge Terminal in Burnaby - a trade Canadian:
do control. According to David Anderson's 1989 Report to the Premier on Oil
Transportation and Oil Spills, the passage taken by Canadian crude oil exports
is orie of the most difficult on the continent; it is significantly more
dangerous than the route out of Valdez, Alaska.

Yet this traffic has grown precipitously in the last six years: since 1985,
exports of crude oil have grown over 2000 per cent; tanker transits are up
600 per cent; tanker size has doi. 2d. In the future, crude oil exports are
likely to double again as more Au..erta heavy crude comes on stream. (The
potential refinery closures currently under discussion would not affect this
trade in crude oil.)

David Brander-Smith, in his 1990 report to the federal government, called
for a comprehensive assessment of this increasing tanker traffic by the Federal
Environmental Assessment Review Office (FEARO). Clearly, a reliable
assessment is needed.

An inadequate report

Instead of the broad public environmental assessment called for by Mr.
Brander-Smith, we have the Port of Vancouver's narrow study. Fora
summary of the problems with the study, see the attached documents.
However, a few key concerns are:

_ 1, The Port's study takes no account of spill risks beyond Burrard Inle
2. The study underestimates the environmental cost of a spill.
_3. The study's risk predictions are extremely optimistic and differ
significantly from Environment Canada's conclusions for the

BC/States Oi) Spill Task Force.

4. The study fails to address key safety issues such as maximum tanker
size or the kind of tug capabilities necessary to manoeuvre a disabled
tanker.

5. The study does not forecast potential increases in tanker traffic.

6. The Port's public consultation process failed dismally.