Re: “Province puts oil-spill restrictions on Trans Mountain,” Jan. 31.
Thank you to B.C. Environment Minister George Heyman for having a spine and stalling the flow of more bitumen from Alberta to our beautiful shores. It’s all well and good to talk about jobs in Alberta, but let’s get real about how serious a major oil spill on B.C.’s coast would be.
History has shown us that oil companies tend to dodge cleanup costs, and even if they took full responsibility for an accident, the damage would already be done. Oil spills are not easily reversed. Ask Alaska. Ask Louisiana.
Nobody has ever dealt with a large-scale bitumen spill in the ocean. Our coastal ecosystem is fragile and unique, and, when intact, provides thousands of jobs to British Columbians and Canadians from other provinces. It might take a long time to recover from a spill.
Our federal government has to start working on an innovative economy for Canada and stop living off the low-hanging fruit of exporting raw materials at the expense of nature.
C. Scott Stofer
Victoria
