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British Columbia Jurisdictional Update Pacific States / British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force AGM September 2013, Seattle, Washington.
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British Columbia Jurisdictional Update Pacific States / British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force AGM September 2013, Seattle, Washington Our Mandate is to plan for, coordinate, implement and manage a program to protect the environment and the public in the event of an environmental emergency or disaster. Wes Shoemaker, Deputy Minister British Columbia Ministry of Environment
Brigadier General M.G. Zalinski • Recovery Operation: • US Navy Transport Ship • Heavy Oil Recovery • Unified Command
Spills in BC • Approx. 3,500 notifications on environmental emergencies per year – 90% minor. • Increasing industrial / transport activity, particularly oil and gas, port development • Diverse environment; terrain, weather, and natural hazards.
Natural Resource & Transportation Developments • Natural Resources • Oil and gas • Mining • Accessing Markets • Pipelines • Rail and roads • Port Expansion
Requirements for B.C. to Consider Support for Heavy Oil Pipelines Successful completion of the environmental review process; World-leading marine oil spill response, prevention and recovery systems to manage and mitigate the risks and costs of heavy oil pipelines and shipments; World-leading practices for land oil spill prevention, response and recovery systems to manage and mitigate the risks and costs of heavy oil pipelines; Legal requirements regarding Aboriginal and treaty rights are addressed, and First Nations are provided with the opportunities; and British Columbia receives a fair share of the fiscal and economic benefits of a proposed heavy oil project that reflects the level, degree and nature of the risk borne by the province, the environment and taxpayers.
World Leading Marine Regime • Federal Review • Tanker Safety Expert Panel • Liability and Compensation review • Provincial Assessment • Submission to tanker panel • 3rd party consultant reports
WorldLeading Land Regime • Create a world class regime for spill preparedness • and response • Ensure effective government oversight of industry spill • response • Develop standards and a process for restoration of the • environment following a spill
Our neighbouring coastal jurisdictions... • Incorporates industry funding into government program budgets and spill response funds; • Have emergency response staff and robust prevention, preparedness and response work. • Require coordinated industry geographic response plans; and/or, • Allow for meeting contingency plan requirements through a spill response organizations.
LandBased Spill Preparedness and Response Review November 2012 – Intentions Paper & consultation March 2013 – Symposium on world-leading practices in spill response Spring 2013 – Advisory Committee and Working Groups formed Spring 2013 to now – Province engaging with WGs on preparedness, response and recovery
For additional information on BC’s Environmental Emergency Program, please visit our website: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/eemp Thank You!