An independent spill trajectory model was created for the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, in response to Kinder Morgan’s pipeline expansion plans – Metro Vancouver will send a letter to the National Energy Board stating its concerns about the potential effects of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion on the region’s assets, infrastructure and environment.
The move coincided with the release of an independent oil spill study that suggests up to 90 per cent of the oil from a major oil tanker spill in the Burrard Inlet would reach the shoreline within 48 hours.
The model was created by Genwest Systems Inc. of Edmonds, Wash., to show the probability of oil spreading to specific locations along the Burrard Inlet in four worst-case scenarios, the largest of which involves a spill about a third of the low estimate for the infamous Exxon Valdez spill.
TIFFANY CRAWFORD and KELLY SINOSKI – VANCOUVER SUN – May 16, 2015.